Aug 11, 2023
Why Bad Things Happen, from a Biblical Perspective
The biggest obstacle to faith for a lot of people is this: “If God is all powerful, then why does He cause (or allow) bad things to happen?”
There's something fundamental that we must establish before we ever address this question directly: God is good, all the time (James 1:16-17).
We know this, at least in part, by what Jesus did. Jesus said that he who has seen him has seen the Father (John 14:8-9), and Jesus went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil (Acts 10:38, Matt 15:30, Matt 4:23-24, Matt 8:16, Matt 9:35, Matt 10:1, Matt 12:15, Matt 15:30, Luke 4:40, Luke 10:9). He never refused healing to anyone who came to Him. He never harmed anyone "for their own good," or put a disease on anyone "to teach them something" or "to discipline them." Not once. In fact, He actively worked against all sickness and disease, to destroy the devil's work (1 John 3:8). He is the same today as He was when He was on earth (Hebrews 13:8).
God the Father doesn't change either (Malachi 3:6). We know of God's character from His names in the Old Testament. He is Jehovah Nissi (The Lord my Banner - Ex 17:15). He is Jehovah-Raah (The Lord my Shepherd, or My Friend - Gen 48:15, Psalm 23:1, 80:1, Ez 34:11-15). He is Jehovah Rapha (The Lord That Heals, Ex 15:26). He is Jehovah Shammah (The Lord is There - He has not abandoned you: Eze 48:35). He is Jehovah Tsidkenu (The Lord Our Righteousness, Jer 23:6, 33:16). He is Jehovah Mekoddishkem (The Lord who Sanctifies You: Ex 31:13, Lev 20:8). He is Jehovah Jireh (The Lord will Provide, Gen 22:14). He is Jehovah Shalom (The Lord is Peace, Judges 6:24). He is Jehovah Sabaoth (The Lord of Hosts, 1 Sam 1:3, Ps 24:9-10, 84:3, Isa 6:5).
Many other scriptures establish His goodness. He is ONLY good. (1 John 1:5, Psalm 84:11-12; Psalm 146:6-10; Psalm 107:9, Psalm 31:19, 1 Tim 4:4-5, Eph 1:3, Romans 8:28, Ps 103:2-5, Ps 145:16-19).
God doesn’t do bad things to His children. Yet He’s powerful enough that for those who trust in Him, He can take even terrible circumstances that were not part of His plan, and bring good out of them.“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
Those who know their scriptures well may point out Old Testament passages that sound like God, in fact, did do evil things. One example is in 2 Sam 24:1, when it says the Lord moved David (in pride) to count the number of his subjects... and then condemned David's sin in having done so (2 Sam 24:10) and punished him severely for it. Yet the exact same story appears in 1 Chron 21:1, where it says Satan moved David to number Israel. This is a very rare glimpse into what was happening in the spiritual realm in the Old Testament, where there is almost no doctrine of Satan. The primary exception to this is at the beginning of the book of Job; otherwise Satan is only mentioned by name here, and in Zechariah 3:1-2. (He is mentioned in Genesis 3 as "the serpent," of course, and also as Lucifer in Isaiah 14:12 and Ezekiel 28 as well.) The Old Testament had almost no doctrine of Satan because the people had no authority over him under the Mosaic covenant. What good would it do to learn that you have a bloodthirsty enemy, but there is nothing you can do to protect yourself from him? Because of this, in the Old Testament, anything supernatural, good or bad, was attributed to God, whether God was the instigator or not. The New Testament (and the revelation in Job 1:6-12) shows that this is not the case; there is a spiritual war going on, and we have an adversary who hates us. (For more on how God's dealings with man changed with different covenants, see my Blood Covenant biblical retellings duology: Blood Covenant Origins and Blood Covenant Fulfilled.)
So if God doesn't cause bad things to happen, why do they happen? Evil comes about as a result of one of or a combination of three things --
1) Satan, the enemy of God and therefore of us, who would like nothing better than to see us destroyed:“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).1 Peter 5:8 — “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
2) A fallen world that will be redeemed one day, but isn’t yet: “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Rom 8:20-21).
and 3) people who are sinners, and either aren’t yet saved or aren’t yet perfected:“There is no one righteous [apart from God], not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God” (Rom 3:10-11).
But if God is truly sovereign, or all-powerful, even if He doesn't cause bad things to happen, doesn't He at least allow them, for His own purposes--which largely boils down to the same thing? I thought this way for a very long time--that He was like a great General of an army, who sometimes had to make sacrifices for a greater good. Sometimes (sorry), that sacrifice turned out to be you.
On one particular night, sitting in front of my fire alone and in the midst of a major life crisis, the Lord disabused me of this mistaken belief about Him. At the time it was an emotional, intuitive understanding, and the fruit of it--renewed joy, hope, faith, and trust in Him--was one layer of evidence that it was true. It was only later that I studied why this definition of God's sovereignty is also biblically inaccurate. God is sovereign in the sense that He is all-powerful, all-loving, and all-knowing, but He is not all-controlling. God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; they did anyway. Was that God's will? Certainly not! He did everything He could to keep them from doing it, short of making them automatons, when He told them, don't do it. Likewise, any sovereign can set laws that his citizens may not necessarily obey. The US is a sovereign nation and in 1974 the administration set the "National Maximum Speed Law" of 55mph. But many drivers exceeded that speed limit regularly.
The New English Translation has the word “sovereign” appear more than any other biblical translation (368 times). Not one of the original Hebrew or Greek words connotes the idea that He controls everything that happens. Most of the time it’s just the way they render God’s names.The word sovereign is often translated from Shaddai (meaning Almighty) when it’s part of God’s name (48 times in the OT). Other times it’s translated from ‘elohiym: supreme God, as a superlative, or ‘elyown, meaning High or Most High. Sometimes it's thrown in as part of the transition of ‘Adonay: an emphatic form of the Lord. Sometimes it's translated from tsaba’, also translated the Lord of Hosts, meaning one who commands an army. In some cases the word sovereign is used to describe God's characteristics, but in context, it doesn't mean what we typically mean by the word (that His will always happens).
The NET version of 1 Chronicles 29:11 says, "O LORD, you are great, mighty, majestic, magnificent, glorious, and sovereign over all the sky and earth! You have dominion and exalt yourself as the ruler of all." Only this translation uses the word sovereign; the others , translate it Head. This word connotes the idea of a supreme ruler, but not of one who always gets His way.
Psalm 84:11 is one of my favorites. It says, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield (magen: shield, buckler, protector).” The same verse is translated in NET: "For the LORD God is our sovereign protector." Clearly this doesn't say anything about His will always being done, either.
Sovereign power is also translated as holiness from qadash: "to consecrate,…