Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? (Part 9)
The Hard Thing About Good Things
This is the ninth in a multi-part series on what the Bible says about why bad things happen to ‘good’ people. You can read Part 1 here.
In the previous article, we looked at how it’s not so simple to call something a ‘bad thing’. That’s because God promises to work all things for the good of His people. (Romans 8:28) That doesn’t mean that some of the ‘bad things’ that we experience aren’t really bad, just that the categorization may not be as simple as it seems. So when we ask ‘why do bad things happen…?’, a more accurate way to ask the question may be to ask ‘why does God allow painful things. We are going to go back to that question in a future article.
Before we do that, in today’s article we are going to look at the other side of things. We are going to explore ‘good things’ and what the Bible says about them in the lives of God’s people. And as with so many things in The Kingdom of God, they are not always as straightforward as they seem.
From a human perspective, when we think of ‘good things’ we usually think of the things that make us happy. Maybe it is financial freedom or wealth. Maybe it’s a wonderful family or even good physical health. These things are often beautiful blessings from The Lord! Our hearts should be overflowing with gratitude for our good God who loves to bless His children. The good things are the fruit of The Good and Loving Father, pouring out His love on us. And when we remember that we did not do anything to deserve these good gifts, it allows us to be all the more grateful and truly give all glory to God for the blessings He has lavished on us.
So…good things. Sounds straightforward. Sounds easy, right? Most of us feel ready to sign up for the ‘good things’ package. But let’s take a look at some examples of people’s lives in the Bible to see what can be hard about the good things.
Let’s start with the blessing of material wealth. Earlier in this series, we looked at a conversation Jesus had with a young man described as rich. Sounds like a blessing, right?
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? ”
“Why do you call me good? ” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not defraud; honor your father and mother. ”
He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these from my youth.”
Looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him,“You lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But he was dismayed by this demand, and he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,“How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! ”
The disciples were astonished at his words. Again Jesus said to them,“Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Mark 10:17-26 (CSB)
Can you see the hard part here? This young man has been blessed with incredible material wealth. And material wealth isn’t a bad thing. We see in the lives of people like Job and David, that God sometimes blesses His people in this way. The hard part is our hearts. We can start to treasure these gifts more than the God who gives them. And if He calls us to give them back, or give them away- we can feel slighted. As if the blessings came from our own goodness. We forget that blessings are gifts from our loving God.
This young man perhaps felt very blessed. He had a large amount of wealth. His hard thing was that Jesus called him to give it all away to follow Him. And the young man didn’t realize that the opportunity to follow Jesus- this was actually his way to true riches. Not that he would get more money back (the lives of the disciples following Jesus were not lives of wealth), it’s that He’d get something so much more valuable. He’d get to walk with Jesus! If only this young man would have recognized the value of what was in front of him. Jesus describes The Kingdom of God as worth giving up everything else you have in order to receive it.
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Matthew 13: 44-46 (ESV)
So one of the hard things about good things is they can become so precious to us that we let them distract us from the best thing. The kingdom. The King Himself! It can be easy for these so-called 'good' things to pull our hearts. Jesus talks about this in His parable of the sower. How for some they hear the word of God, but the deceitfulness of riches distracts them and their lives don’t have much spiritual fruit.
Now the one sown among the thorns — this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. But the one sown on the good ground — this is one who hears and understands the word, who does produce fruit and yields: some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times what was sown.”
Matthew 13:22-23 (CSB)
This type of distraction doesn’t just happen with money. We see Jesus interact with people too who are blessed in other ways. And they are also called to give up everything to follow Him. This is the cost of following Jesus: Everything. We must be willing to give up everything we have to gain so much more. Even our lives, should He call us to that.
And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Matthew 10: 38- 39 (ESV)
This sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? Comparatively speaking, the love and dedication we have to follow God must be so much greater than even our love for our own lives, that it doesn’t seem to register in the same category. Jesus tells us this is the cost of being His follower. This is the cost of being a Christian. No matter how much we have, we have to be willing to trade it all to receive the One who is worth so much more. And so Jesus warns those who want to follow Him to ‘count the cost’. He’s giving them an exit ramp before they even get started. Want to follow me? You have to be willing to lose everything else you have.
Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
Luke 14: 25-28 (ESV)
That cost is so high that it can feel almost defeating. And in the lives of most Christians we know- it doesn’t always seem like they have to pay that high of a price. Not everyone is called to make the same sacrifices in the same way. But we all must be willing if and when the time comes. That is how the disciples felt when Jesus told the rich young man that he needed to sell all he had and give it to the poor. The disciples are astonished. Look at what Jesus goes on to explain after He tells them how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! ”
The disciples were astonished at his words. Again Jesus said to them,“Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
They were even more astonished, saying to one another, “Then who can be saved? ”
Looking at them, Jesus said,“With man it is impossible, but not with God, because all things are possible with God.”
Mark 10:23-27 (CSB)
This is the hard thing about good things. They can be distractions or worse- they can pull our hearts away from the best thing. And as we think about good things and bad things in the lives of Christians- as we wrestle with the question ‘why do does God allow painful things in the lives of His people?’, we also have to consider this:
Are 'good' things really good if they distract us from The Good News?
The cost to follow Jesus is so expensive that we can feel like the disciples when they ask essentially, 'if it’s this hard to be a Christian (to enter the kingdom) than who can be saved? How is it even possible? What hope do any of us have?' The answer is the same as it’s been every time we’ve considered goodness and blessing. We can’t, but God can. It’s not possible for our hearts to be willing to lay aside material blessings, everything we have, even our own lives and follow God. With us it is impossible. But with God all things are possible.
And once again we see that this ability to choose God, it is also a gift from Him. It’s not something we earn. It is a gift. In life, there are some people, like the disciples and like Paul, who give up everything they have and endure many 'bad things' for the sake of The Good News. Consider the conversation they may have with the wealthy young man who left his time with Jesus feeling discouraged because it was so expensive to follow Him. From the perspective of eternity, who will feel more blessed? Who received the better 'good thing'? Whomever experienced walking most closely with Christ. He is the truly Good thing.
Thank you for reading. This is part of a multi part series on what the Bible says about why bad things happen to ‘good’ people. You can read Part 1 here.
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This copy in this article was written by a real person, me 🙂, not AI.
For true hope and joy,
~m
