> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.truehopeforjoy.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? (Part 2) - URL: https://www.truehopeforjoy.com/why-do-bad-things-happen-to-good-people-part-2/ - Published: 2026-07-25T09:05:49.000Z - Updated: 2026-07-25T09:05:49.000Z - Author: m - Tags: Bible, Christian, death, grief, hope, loss, verses, why do bad things happen to good people ## How Jesus changes everything about why bad things happen to good people *This is the second in a four part series on what the Bible says about why bad things happen to ‘good’ people. You can* [*read Part 1 here*](https://www.truehopeforjoy.com/why-do-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/)*.* In the first article on this topic, we explored what the Old Testament says about why bad things happen to ‘good’ people. We learned that the formula for answering this question isn’t as simple as doing more good deeds than bad deeds guaranteeing us an ‘happily ever after’ life. We learned that the answer to this question is much more complex than that. It’s not like arithmetic, it’s closer to multivariate calculus. We also dug into what we can learn about why bad things happen from the Old Testament. We saw there that God gives the law, the 10 Commandments and more. We learned that there are blessings promised for obedience and consequences for disobedience. But we also saw that throughout the Old Testament there are examples that break this pattern. Times when people who are ‘good’ relative to their peers experience lives that seem unfairly hard. We looked at Abel (killed by his brother Cain), Joseph (falsely accused, but sent to prison), and Job (lost his children and all he had, despite being faithful). If the story ended with the Old Testament, it might be discouraging. The options would seem to be: Try to perfectly follow the law (spoiler alert: we can’t) and maybe you’ll have a good life? Or maybe you’ll lose everything, go to prison unjustly or be killed? Just the prospect of that seems scary. Good news, though, is coming. The story does not end with Old Testament tragedy. Jesus, God in the very flesh, came into this broken world to overcome the destruction of sin in us and around us that causes all of these bad things. He comes to earth, as our epic hero, to overcome every bad thing once and for all. Let's take a look at how He does this. First, Jesus comes to earth and lives a perfect life. Think this is easy? Consider that every person who tried before, failed. All of our Old Testament heroes, even people like Moses who God called His friend and David who God called a man after His own heart, failed. But, where everyone else fails, Jesus succeeds. And, because He is the only person to perfectly obey God’s 10+ Commandments in the Old Testament, He is the only person who actually *earns* all of the blessings promised there. This alone is amazing! When we succeed at something no one else has done before - we are celebrated! When someone breaks a world record, grows a billion dollar business or discovers the cure for a disease, they are lauded by everyone and they enjoy the riches and fame that come with being the first to do something. The typical response most of us would have is what makes Jesus’s response all the more staggering. Once He earns all of the blessings of God, He does not just keep them for Himself, but He willingly chooses to lay down His life. To die. For many of us who grew up in a Christian home, we are so used to hearing things like ‘Jesus died for our sins’ that we don’t stop to fully picture this. To fully understand the significance of this. To try to shift into Jesus’ perspective to understand why He did this, and what He was accomplishing. Jesus, when He lays down His life, is actually making a trade. By living a perfect life, He has earned all of the blessings God’s ever promised. Instead of just enjoying them Himself, He chooses to trade them like the team that has the #1 draft pick. But for what? Perhaps the most surprising thing is what He trades for. Instead of just accepting the blessings of fulfilling the law, He lays down His life, allowing His enemies to crucify Him on the cross. And the most painful part of this experience is not the excruciating physical pain, it is being separated from the only source of true goodness in the world. For the first time, Jesus experiences separation from God the Father. This is the consequence for sin. This is the curse. So what has Jesus traded for all of the blessings He has earned? All of the curse and consequence of the sins of His people. With His #1 draft pick, Jesus sacrifices Himself and trades for everyone else to get to experience blessing in place of our sin. Every good thing we experience. Every beautiful sunrise. Every bouncing baby smiling. Every happy moment, is a gift purchased by Christ. And there is more. For those who are trusting in Christ, we get to experience the ultimate good thing, the presence of God, the source of everything good. It’s not just the future, it’s now. If you are a Christian, you have Holy Spirit dwelling within you now. God with us is the ultimate good thing. And there is still even more to come. Every story, rooted in Christ, will have a happy ending in time. Where the cliche’s get it wrong, is they sometimes mistakenly promise that these happy endings will happen in our lifetimes. The Bible clearly shows that for Abel and others (consider the lives of Peter, Paul and Mary) we may not be able to see all of these happy endings in our lifetimes. In the moment, sometimes the lives of those walking with God look far from blessed. But in time we see God is working toward something bigger. Hebrews Chapter 11 is sometimes called ‘The Faith Hall of Fame’ and it gives us the epilogue for Abel and other Old Testament believers. It unpacks more of their suffering and it encourages us to consider their example when we experience challenges in this life. *By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. Hebrews 11:4 (ESV)* *Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword….* *And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.* *Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 11:36;39–12:2(ESV)* Jesus is our True Hope. Every blessing. Every good, encouraging promise we have, He secured. Without Him, we are hopeless. Because this is such a complex question, this article is part of a four part series digging deep in God’s Word to understand what He has promised. Next week, in Part 3 of this series, we’ll take a deeper look at what God says about goodness. **Still to come:** Part 3- What the Bible has to say about goodness Part 4- Why is it important for Christians to understand why bad things happen to good people If you haven’t read [Part 1, you can read it here](https://www.truehopeforjoy.com/why-do-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/). If you would like to receive an email as soon as a new article posts, [you can sign up here](https://www.truehopeforjoy.com/). Thank you for reading. This article was written by a real person, me 🙂, not AI. For true hope and joy, \~m