Vazquez Counseling

What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.

The question in my title above is actually not one that I get asked very often, but it is a tough one to answer, not because I don’t know the answer, but because most people won’t accept the answer I give them.

In the end, most people do not think that there is a good answer to this question. If the answer I give – and this is the one that many Christians give – is that we live in a fallen world, and that the correct question is not why do bad things happen to good people, but rather, why does God allows sinners to live in a world where He demands holiness and righteousness? That is the Christian answer, but non-Christians would never accept that answer because to understand it requires a Biblical worldview.

If you are going to ask the question, why do bad things happen to good people, then you have to consider the question, why do good things happen to bad people? There have been many bad people who live like kings, who are generally happy, and who are very successful. Before we go further, we need to define some terms.

Who defines what a good person is, and who defines what a bad person is? We need to change those terms, from good to righteous and from bad to evil. The Bible clearly states that throughout human history, righteous people have lived right alongside evil people. In fact, Jesus himself talked about righteous people (His children) existing right alongside evil people (the children of the enemy). in Matthew 13:24-30, the Scriptures state:

“Another parable He (Jesus) put forth to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘“‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’’’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn’”

From the beginning of history, God stated that evil people would exist in this world.

In Genesis 3:14-15, God pronounced His judgment on the serpent, who had deceived Eve:

“So the LORD God said to the serpent:
‘Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.’” (New King James Version)

In this passage, God stated that He would put hatred between the children of the enemy and the Seed of the woman. Here, the word Seed is capitalized. God is referring to the One Seed, the coming Christ, who would undo what Adam and Eve did when they Fell. The seed of the enemy are those who hated Jesus and crucified Him, and there continue to be those who hate Jesus today. Mind you, not everyone who currently hates Christ will lose his soul. If he repents and joins with Christ, he will be saved. The clearest example of this was Saul of Tarsus, who was hunting and killing Christians in the first century, and who became the Apostle Paul after Jesus got a hold of him. Paul went on to write much of the New Testament. He systematically described what Christianity is, so that everyone who has read his words would have no excuse for rejecting God.

Friends, we are at war with the children of the enemy. The beautiful thing about this is that our LORD Jesus defeated the enemy at the Cross of Calvary. The war that we are still involved in everyday of our lives is the final battle which the enemy has already lost. Bad things will continue to happen to righteous people until Christ returns and makes everything right. And good things will continue to happen to evil people because the rain falls on the just and the unjust. The reality is that good and bad things happen to all of us, regardless of whether or not we follow God.

The Truth is that it does not matter what happens to us; what ultimately matters is to Whom your allegiance belongs. If you can answer that question correctly, then I submit that it does not matter what happens to you.