The Bible Recap Day 27

 The Bible Recap Day 27

Genesis 43-45


God Shot: Why do bad things happen to good people

Genesis 45:4-8


[4] So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. [5] And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. [6] For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. [7] And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. [8] So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.


A little over a year ago I was with a soldier who was dealing with a death. He asked the question that I have been asked many times, it is the question that I have asked just as many times on my own; “Why do bad things happen  to good people?” It was a question that I had never been able to articulate  an answer for until that day when I was asked by someone that was struggling to trust in a God that he was not sure was real. 


 The following is a rough rephrase of the conversation


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Him - Chaps, I just don’t understand and have never been able to, why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?


Me - Bad things happen to good people because God loves all of us and allows us to live our lives like we want to.


Him - That is crazy. If God really loved us he would not let bad things happen


Me - I have thought the same myself but look at it this way. If your boss operated you like a robot everyday would you like it? Would you like him? 


Him - We are in the Army, my boss does operate me like a robot everyday.


Me - Yes, we are told what to do but we are still allowed freedom of choice. We get to choose what to eat and drink and how much sleep we get who we marry whether or not we have friends even whether or not we want to believe in God. What if he literally directed EVERY step of your day. Ok, stand there, eat that food, have this thought, go over there, go use the bathroom now, date this person, believe this thought. I mean literally directing every part of your life down to how often you have sex with your wife and how you do it. Would you consider that a loving or good person?  No, you would consider that person a dictator and you would probably hate them.


Him - Yeah but if it had always been that way I would not know any better.


Me - True, but does that sound like a person that loves you? Someone that wants to control EVERY aspect of your life? They may even say that they are doing it because they know better but do you feel like you could truly love them for treating you that way? The way I see God is that he gives us guidance about how we should live our lives, we get that in the Bible or through prayer or even through other followers, but we still have to be careful with that last one.  With that guidance we try to live that good life that we started out talking about. Helping others, taking care of our families, being kind etc... 


Him - Right and then they get killed in a helicopter crash


Me - Yes, because there are those in the world that do not want to have anything to do with Him or His guidance. They are solely focused on making sure that they are happy no matter the cost. But God loves them too, so he lets them make their own decisions. They can decide to drive drunk and kill someone that is a good person. They can decide to cheat on their spouse and split a family and cause long term pain. It is all about the choices that they make. Evil exists in this world. But at the end of the day it all started out with God not wanting to be a dictator but to be a loving God. I don’t know why that pilot’s helicopter crashed, we may never know. This may sound far fetched but it could be true. What if a guy was having an affair with another mans wife. The husband is a good man, loves God, and does his best to follow God. He  finds out about the affair and is totally distraught. He can’t sleep, his focus is gone. His job is making sure that the gears for this important helicopter part are exactly right. After a few days of no sleep his focus is off because he is tired and his mind is elsewhere. A bad part gets through the system. It eventually gets put on a helicopter. The helicopter goes down and another good man’s dies. Is it Gods fault that he did not rule the world like a dictatorship and that man did not ever have the affair?


Him - silence


Me - I sure as hell don’t understand it all. But the only way I can get through my understanding of all this is by believing that God loves all of us and he gives all of us a choice to follow him. We will never be perfect and we are all going to screw up but when we follow him we are less likely to hurt others around us. That is all we can control.

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That was my God shot for the day because it tied in with the story of Joseph and his brothers. There are so many things that have happened in my life that I just don’t understand. I am going through one of them right now. But I was reminded that even in the midst of the unknown there is a plan of getting through this. It may not be the way I like. I may never know the reason at all. I just have to trust that in all the moving pieces in the world God does know who I am and he has a focus on me and wants me to remember who he is. The only way I can continue is to keep reading and praying. Not because it is a magic spell but because without spending time with him my fears return and my mind wanders to other things and I forget that he is in control... just not like a dictator. 


By the way... this is how the Israelites came to be captive by the Egyptians that Moses had to free later. No good deed goes unpunished?


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