Why do bad things happen to good people?

Why do bad things happen to good people? 

Christ answered this question for us in Luke 13 when some people came to Him with news that Pilate had killed some Galileans as they were offering sacrifices at the Temple -- observant Jews cut down by their oppressors in the middle of doing something lawful. See this and Christ's response in Luke 13--

"About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were offering sacrifices at the Temple. 2 “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered? 3 Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. 4 And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? 5 No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.”

Beloved, understand that repentance is not that beating of one's breast in regret for sins and trying to make things right with God by human effort like Judas. That is the height of pride and foolishness- to think that one could have done better or trying to right oneself before God when Christ says "There is none good but God." 

Christ shows us what repentance is all about in Parable of the Lost Sheep -- us forsaking our useless efforts to save ourselves from sin, earthly ills and death via useless attempts at being godly (be like God) and consenting to be borne on Christ's shoulders when He (Grace Himself) finds us. The sheep that TURNS AWAY from Christ's offer of carrying him ALL THE WAY home and on His shoulders, preferring to rely on his own human strength, that is the unrepentant sheep that will perish because he does not "repent of your sins and TURN TO GOD."

And we see the sin that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of in John 16:9--

"8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged."

If you believe in Jesus, God is no longer hanging ANY sin over your head to punish you for it. Christ died once to wipe away our entire life of sins (Hebrews 9:27.). If you have sins and lay yourself at His feet like the helpless adulteress whom the religious Pharisees dragged to Him to Him for condemnation, He will never condemn you. He came to free us from every kind of sin--

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds." Titus 2:14.

It is sad to see "men of God" hanging the threat of punishment for sins over the head of helpless sinners who are powerless to save themselves (no one can) right inside church when the purpose of Christ's coming is to save us from our sins. But I digress. 

Back to Luke 13. Christ responded to Pilate's slaughter of the Galileans during their  offering of their sacrifices at the Temple with--

"Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?"

Obviously the people who brought the news to Christ thought that the murdered Galileans suffered such gruesome deaths because were worse sinners. How many times have we seen calamity befall others and thought that they must have done some kind of horrid evil to deserve that kind of gruesome deal? Beloved, the reality is all have sinned and the wages of sin is death. Understand that there is no good in man of himself. The only reason why you and I who believe in Jesus are not wallowing in the vilest sins and Job-type calamities right now is written for us in 1 Corinthians 10--

"12 So beware if you think it could never happen to you, lest your pride becomes your downfall. 13 We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously."

For every sin or calamity that we see in the life of others, know that the reality is "There I go but for the Grace of God." Apart from Christ, should God let Satan the Accuser call anybody's court case number, that one is finished because the law condemns the best of us. But Grace saves the worst of us.

Also, the people of Jerusalem looked upon the Galileans as a "raz" and uneducated bunch, the same way some among us look down on those who attend churches with names like "The Atomic Bomb Bible Brigade Ministry" etc and whose "pastor" gets them to drink their bath water and eat grass. So Christ pointed out the calamity that happened in high and lofty Jerusalem for those who might think that that kind of thing only happened in "raz" Galilee --

"And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem?"

Beloved, understand that the doctrine of those "raz" grass-eating churches is no different from that of some mega-churches that are patronized by professionals- some are even led by people with degrees from STEM fields. The approach of the latter is simply more refined. The doctrine is the same: burdening the flock with the task of attaining even a smidgen of godliness by human effort and terrorizing the flock with God's wrath which no believer in Christ will ever experience. The doctrine is the same aka that Christ-less -

"Now that you are born-again, you have to do your best to be sinless and godly (be like God) so that God can bless you and so that you do not perish but have everlasting life." 

One thing that both the unsophisticated and the refined churches that follow such doctrine have in common with that of those who were slaughtered in Galilee and those who were crushed in Jerusalem: all are focused on trying to please God but they are all Christ-less. Only in Christ do we get to "not perish but have eternal life."

Christ was essentially telling the crowd that they were no better than the people of Galilee whom Pilate slaughtered or the eighteen people in Jerusalem whom the Tower of Siloam fell upon: all were dead in sin and equally in need of repentance (consenting to having Christ as their utter Righteousness and Strength) or else they would all likewise perish. Only God's mercy stood between them and their experiencing the same fate as the dead.

Beloved, "There is none good but God." Christ's word. Apart from Christ, the only reason why anyone alive today is still breathing and not enduring Job-type calamities is God's mercy/restraining hand- the same restraint or hedge ("suwk" in Hebrew which means hedge or restraint) that preserved self-righteous Job who thought he was good until God lifted His restraining hand that prevents man from experiencing what he truly deserves for his sins. And there was Job, lamenting that (to paraphrase) "this kind of thing should not be happening to me" because "I was eyes to the blind" and his other works, until the Lord replied him. He saw his error and abhorred himself. Thank God for restoration.

Asking the question "Why do bad things happen to good people" is akin to asking God why those calamities befell Job since he was good: justifying "no good" man who only deserves death and blaming God. No matter how good man thinks he is, of himself, what he deserved is death. And Bible death is not just "stopped breathing." It is translated from the Greek word "Thanatos" which means--

• the misery of the soul arising from sin, which begins on earth but lasts and increases after the death of the body in hell
• the miserable state of the wicked dead in hell
• in the widest sense, death comprising all the miseries arising from sin, as well physical death as the loss of a life consecrated to God and blessed in him on earth, to be followed by wretchedness in hell.

Beloved of God, God is the Righteous Judge. His Righteousness and Justice demand that every sin be punished to the uttermost. Even we would be appalled if an earthly judge tried to let his beloved child off the hook for a crime for which the law demands the death penalty. The law requires the death of all who have sinned - a death that Christ died for all so that we "should not perish but have everlasting life." Anyone who thinks he is good by himself rejects Christ as his good for his own (self-)righteousnesses which are like a menstrual rag in God's sight according to Isaiah 64:6. Such may indulge many activities to please God, but are only existing because of God's mercy aka preservation from punishment that one deserves.

Immediately after Christ explained to the people that they were no better than those who died such gruesome deaths, He told this parable:

"6 He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. 7 Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? 8 And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: 9 And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down."

Now any Jew who knows the Torah will find verse 6 to be very strange- a fig tree planted in a vineyard where grapes are planted is something that the law forbids. Deuteronomy 22:9 says--

“You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the yield of the seed which you have sown and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled."

To cut a long story short, God is the Owner of the vineyard. Christ in whom is the fullness of the Godhead bodily is the Dresser or Keeper. The fig tree in the vineyard is a picture of self-righteousness in the church (vineyard) which is all about righteousness by faith in Christ. Recall Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves in Eden when they saw that they were naked (lacking in righteousness) after eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil- a picture of the law which tells what is good and what is evil and kills just like the tree? That is the purpose of the law, beloved- to show us how naked (devoid of righteousness/guilty of sin) we are--

"19 Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. 20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are." Romans 3.

It's not surprising that the Owner of the vineyard found no fruit on the fig tree in His vineyard. But this is not because the person with the "fig tree" mentality is not producing works. It is because all of his (self-)righteous works of the law which he is doing in a bid to get God to bless him are as described in Isaiah 64:6--

"We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight."

Like the woman with the issue of blood who could only produce menstruation rags and no child/fruit as long as she was enmeshed in all sorts of fasts, attempts at obeying the law and works in a bid to bear fruit, such people are inside church trying to bear fruit by their works. But only when we forsake such self- righteous "fig leaves" works and depend utterly on Christ as our Righteousness and Strength do we bear "much fruit."

So the Vinedresser (Christ Himself who speaks God's heart) said:

"8 And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall DIG about it, and DUNG it: 9 And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down."

I put "dig" and "dung" in caps for emphasis.

"Dig" in Hebrew is "Karah" and it means "to give a banquet or feast." Beloved, Christ's “I shall dig about" the fig tree is Him inviting the self-righteous to come and feast FREELY on His goodness of salvation from sins, redemption from the curse, freedom from satanic oppression and every earthly ill which many are trying to get from God by their obedience and 70 days fasts. We see this in the Parable of the Great Banquet in Luke 14:15-24. Also very inportant:

Dung it. Dung it. Dung it. If you take anything away from this piece, by God's Grace, let it be "Dung it." This is what Christ is doing in the lives of all who today - Dunging the fig tree aka those who think that they are or can produce the fruit of righteousness before God by their arm of flesh/human effort. 

But what does "Dung it" mean? 

We see this in the life of Paul- a former Pharisee of Pharisees who "obeyed the law without fault" and wrote that "According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless." Paul had stupendously more human credentials than those which many wave about as why God blesses or should bless them today. But he counted all of his works/credentials as DUNG so that he might gain Christ!---

“2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh!3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, exult in Christ Jesus, and do not rely on human credentials 4 —though mine too are significant. If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials, I have more: 5 I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. 6 In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless. 7 But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. 8 More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things—indeed, I regard them as DUNG! - that I may gain Christ, 9 and be found in Him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness —a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness." 

Beloved, that is the life of the one for whom Christ has "Dung it." He stripped us of all self-righteous works which man does to get God to bless, save and deliver and clothed us with His own robe of righteousness which is free for all who stop their silly efforts to save themselves and look utterly to Christ for salvation. 

This is what He wants you to do, beloved-- like Paul, see all those fig leaves/self righteous works of the law and those activities which "pastor" says will make God bless, save or deliver you as DUNG. They do nothing but serve as a barrier to being embraced in God's Grace. As it was with the woman with the issue of blood, only by abandoning such works and trusting utterly in Christ (being in union with Him) do we get to stop producing "a menstrual rag" and get to bear much fruit. 

Beloved of God, let's not be found asking those kinds of questions-- "why do bad things happen to good people?"  Christ says "There is none good but God." Such questions attempt to justify man (claim that man is good, challenging Christ) and blame God. If He were not "digging" and "dunging"which is why God sent Him to die for the world, all of us would be cut off. Apart from Christ, what we all deserved was devolvement into horrid sins and Job-type calamities that lead to death. It is because of His mercy that all men are not consumed by sin and death.So by His Grace, let's keep on sharing the Good News about Christ who suffered and died to make us good-- like God- so that more people can live the abundant life in Christ Jesus.