Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?
The Short Answer
I think we sometimes confuse the terms nice or innocent with good. The short answer is that yes, sadly, bad things happen to nice people and apparently innocent people. The book of Job provides a biblical perspective on this.
But more broadly speaking in the Christian view, the difficult truth is that there are no good people. All of us fall short, at least according to God’s morality. And no one ever asks why bad things happen to bad people, so the question largely goes away.
Introduction
All of us will go through difficult times, even suffering, at least to some extent. No one is immune, and if we take a close look around us, we see that everyone has issues.
Christianity provides reasonable answers to pain and suffering. In prior posts, we have seen that most of the suffering we endure is due to either moral evil, which is a result of our own free choices or those of others; or natural evil, a result of natural disasters, accidents, and disease.
But it does seem especially bewildering when we see terrible problems and tragedy fall on apparently innocent people. Why? It brings God’s justice into question, because it seems so unfair.
In the Book of Job, God Speaks
The book of Job in the Bible, through a fascinating and incredible account, offers a Biblical perspective on why bad things happen to innocent people.
Job was a wealthy man, blameless, and full of integrity (Job 1:1). Yet he was subjected to unspeakable pain and suffering. He lost everything in a rapid series of events. All of his livestock and almost all of his farm hands and shepherds were killed. Then, in a single tragedy caused by gale force winds, all ten of his children were killed at the same time.
Despite his suffering, Job continued to trust in God (Job 13:15), even though he knew he had not done anything in particular to deserve what he was going through. He actually longed for the opportunity to appear in God’s court to plead his innocence. (Job 13:23, Job 13:3).
Job’s question for God was like ours: “Why?” (Job 13:24).
The entire book becomes a gripping exploration of God’s justice concerning the suffering of innocent people, as Job dialogs with his friends.
Finally, in an absolutely incredible turn of events, God shows up. What follows is, in my opinion, one of the most astonishing speeches made by God himself in all of scripture. God immediately begins to challenge Job:
Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind: “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” (Job 38:1-7 NLT).
God doesn’t stop there. He continues to challenge Job for some 1900 words through to the end of chapter 41. And all throughout, God is making a powerful point. He’s illustrating his wisdom and sovereignty for Job through some of the unfathomable wonders of creation.
Then Job responds:
“I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me.” (Job 42: 1-3 NLT).
Here is the lesson. Very often we can not know what causes our suffering, but we can cling to and take comfort in the fact that all things are in the hands of an infinitely wise and sovereign God.[1]
Then Again, Are There Any Good People?
So we understand that our fallen world is filled with suffering, and bad things happen even to nice, and apparently innocent people.
But concerning good people, Christianity has an added response. According to God’s perfect moral standard there actaully are no good people.
We read of God’s law throughout the whole Bible, especially in the Old Testament. But what is it? God’s law is God’s moral law. It is his standard of morality, the core of which is the Ten Commandments. God’s law defines what is good, and what is bad.
Christianity says that not a single one of us can ever conform to God’s law (Psalm 14:1-3, Romans 3:10). We know this is true, don’t we? You could ask yourself if you’ve ever told a lie, ever stolen something, ever said God’s name in vain. We’ve all done these things and much worse. Not a single one of us is able to keep God’s moral law.
In fact, one of the reasons God revealed his law is so that we can see the extent of our own moral depravity (Romans 3:19-20). Once we understand this, we see why we need to be rescued from this sinful state if we want to be made right with God and forgiven.
That we even can be forgiven is the good news of Christianity. We don’t work harder to make ourselves morally right before God. He’s already done that for us. It’s a free gift, known as grace.
Conclusion
Why do bad things happen to good people? Well, sadly, bad things happen to nice people, and apparently innocent people. But good people? The difficult truth is that there really are no good people. When we see this, the question goes away because nobody ever asks why bad things happen to bad people.
[1]Andrew E. Hill and John H. Walton, A Survey of the Old Testament, 3rd Ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 415.