Why do Bad things happen to Good People?

Many people have been led to believe that bad things should not happen to good people but, that is not borne out in the reality of life living in this world and it is time believers accept the truth of this. This kind of misrepresentation of the truth, that God can protect and heal everybody, yet does not protect and heal everybody, results in people condemning themselves thinking they are not in the right place with God,  or rile against God accusing  him of being unfair, uncaring, unfaithful, unloving, and untrue to his word. It even cause some to loose trust in and give up believing in God.

Bad things happening to good people destroys the illusion that God’s blessing means believers aren’t subjected to bad things happening to them exposing it for the lie that it is. Does that mean that God does not miraculously heal and deliver, of course not, he do but the reality is he does not heal everybody!

What is assured is that God supplies whatever grace and comfort is needed in those moments. Whatever grace and comfort their family and friends will need to get through their grief and go on with life will also be given to them. Being blessed doesn't mean we escape the bad things in the world, only that the bad will not prevail over us.

We don't have to look any further than some of our neighborhoods to find people who grow up in fear of violence and suffer from incredible need. Most of the world lives in great risk.

The reality is that evil is alive in our world and it causes incredible pain, suffering and destruction. That needn't lead us to despair. It is also in moments like these that we get to see God perform his greatest miracles. He is able to work incredible good even out of the most despicable sickness, disease and tragedy. God is able to work out his purpose in the world and in you even in times of enduring things we think we should not have to.

When we see the many good people that bad things happen to we wonder if God has forgotten them or cares about their plight. Nothing could be further from the truth.
He knows and cares what you are going through, even as it unfolded it grieved his heart. And yes, though this is hard to hear, sometimes he does not heal or deliver the victim. Some people find that incompatible with the image of a loving Father. Wouldn't his love compel him to ensure that such an attack of the devil not succeed against his loved child?

The Bible makes clear that God does not circumvent all evil in this world. He has given dominion of the earth to humanity and though he often intervenes to reveal himself in history and to move it to its divinely appointed end, he rarely spares us the consequences of evil. Rather, he redeems us out of it and through those consequences he invites us to refocus our lives on him and his love for us and he promises the he will never leave us or forsake us, he goes through and feels what we are feeling and ensures us that all will be well, no matter the outcome.

The idea that God won't let bad things happen to good people misunderstands the nature of the fallen world and is blind to the realities of the world in which we live. Six million Jews died in concentration camps in Germany during World War II. Thousands of Africans have been killed in the last decade by tribal warfare and by the AIDS virus. Atrocities in the former Yugoslavia, Northern Ireland and throughout the Middle East have filled our media for years. Isn't it arrogant of us to say that our suffering in the western world calls God's character into question and not share the same pain when it happens in distant lands?