WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN

Karol Horken • July 12, 2021
Last week in my blog and also on my video, I gave you several scriptures confirming the goodness of God. Like I mentioned in the video, the entire Bible points us to Jesus who is truly a gift from God to us. Jesus’ death on the cross opened the way for us to receive Him as Savior and Lord and it doesn’t get much better than that!!

I certainly do not have all the answers on why bad things still happen to us as Christians, but I will share what I believe the reasons are. I encourage you to take the time to look up the scriptures I included and decide for yourself.

First of all, we live in a sin-filled world. (Romans 5:12-21) Bad things naturally happen in the atmosphere of sin. 

That is why our loving Father sent His only begotten son, Jesus, to die for the forgiveness of our sins. When we receive Jesus as our personal Savior, we are no longer “sinners” but instead our hearts are made right with God. (Romans 5:19 NIV) The good news is that now when we sin —and we will — we can freely go to God and receive His forgiveness. (I John 1:9)

In Genesis, chapters 2 and 3, we learn how Satan deceived Adam and Eve and became the god of this world. (2 Corinthians 4:4) 

Thankfully, God was way ahead of him and already had a redemptive plan in place for all mankind.

For this is how God loved the world: 
He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes 
in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 (NLT)

God “loved” and “He gave.” Now it is up to each of us to receive Jesus, as our Savior so we have the opportunity to live free of Satan’s domination.

Frankly, I see it as a no-brainer. Live under the domination of sin or receive Jesus (for the forgiveness of our sins), and be adopted into His family where we can remain close to Him.

We remain close by committing our plans to God and asking for His thoughts, rather than demanding our own way. We give Him permission to take our plans and affirm them, tweak them, or even delete them so we line up with His will. It is then that we can "be established and succeed.” (Proverbs 16:3 AMPC)

Hopefully, when we become a Christian, we will no longer follow the beliefs and the ways of this world, but instead let God transform the way we think so that we will experience what is “good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2 NLT)

Unfortunately, there are times when we stray away and allow the things of this world to dominate our lives. Distractions come to weaken us and pretty soon we aren’t as sharp as we should be. It’s in this atmosphere that we are tempted to compromise what we know is right. The devil uses this as an opportunity to separate us from God perfect plan. (I Peter 5:8)

There may be other reasons why bad things happen, but here’s what I know for sure. It is not God that causes them. (Romans 8:32) If I thought that were true, I would not be able to trust Him — and where would I go from there? I also know that if I have questions, I can always go to Him and ask what happened. I have done that on many occasions and even though the answer doesn’t always come immediately, I eventually reach a place of peace with my heavenly Father. 

I encourage you to go to God and ask your questions. You will be so glad you did.

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