I would like to touch today on why bad things happen to good people, where is Jesus in all of this? and learning to trust Jesus.
Well, first I would like to point out that I am writing for everyone but if you don’t have a solid hold on Jesus or you just don’t know who He is then I pray you can find Him within my documents.
Let’s start with the question, “why do bad things happen to good people?” Let’s go to the Bible and have a quick refresher. (Once again I am assuming you are familiar with the Bible.)
Revelation 12:7,8 “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.”
So there was war, what does that indicate? Yes Jesus (Michael) and the dragon (Lucifer) didn’t see eye to eye. As time went on the two vastly different governments made evident what their statutes were going to be based upon. Jesus still held true to His law of love but Satan went on to reveal his true character of death, destruction and just pure hatred. So were did that leave us in all of this? We didn’t directly have any say in the matter. Well, it goes like this, Satan took control of this world, he usurped power via Adam’s fall and set himself up as prince of this world. Now while we didn’t ‘sin’ exactly we were born into this world already steeped in sin, therefore we are sinful by default but via the blood of Jesus we are ‘born’ free. But, we are still in Satan’s playground, we are under his dominion and as we know Satan’s law is evil. So we are caught in Satan’s playground, that means bad things are going to happen and yes we are involved. The good news is Jesus is by our side and while bad things do happen Jesus is beside us helping us through. Jesus, as we know, will return and take back His kingdom but till then He has promised us help, He (Jesus) is beside us every step of the way. The bad happens because of Satan, no sometimes Jesus doesn’t block it and we will look into that later in the document.
So now we know why bad things happen, let’s find out where Jesus is, and how do we learn to trust Him. Let’s go to the dictionary for a definition of trust.
“Firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something.”
Now let’s go to the Bible.
Proverbs 3:5,6 “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths”
So the dictionary is telling us trust is a firm belief and the Bible is telling us to trust in Jesus and He will direct us. But how do we know we can trust Jesus? This is where we have to learn. Let’s go to the dictionary again and find a definition for ‘learn’.
“Gain or acquire knowledge of or skill in (something) by study, experience, or being taught.”
And to the Bible.
Matthew 11:29 “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
I believe the key word in the definition for ‘learn’ is experience, then Jesus is asking us to ‘learn’ of Him. Friends how do we ‘learn’ anything? That’s right it’s by experience. We cannot learn to read or write by looking out a window, no, we have to study the books. We cannot have faith in our car’s brakes if they have never been tested, you get the picture. We wouldn’t go up to a stranger and ask for a ride as we don’t know if they can be trusted, trust needs to be ‘learnt’, it needs to be ‘experienced. It is the same with Jesus and He is tenderly calling us to learn of Him and trust Him.
So how is this trust ‘learnt’?
Isaiah 48:10 “Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.”
That’s right, most likely in the furnace of affliction.
But –
1st Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
Jesus is with us every step of the way and if He sees the fire is too hot He will quench the flames immediately. See what I’m trying to say is we need to build muscle, look at it as though faith is a muscle and as we all know muscles can only be strengthened by using them. Slowly, lightly at first then building up to the heavy weights, as we get stronger the weights get heavier till:-
Job 23:10 “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
Friends, we shall come out of the furnace shining like gold.
Friends, we all have to learn by experience and I’m very sorry to say a lot of these ‘experiences’ are not pleasant, but look to the end result, look my friends in the mirror and you will see the reflection of Jesus. Friends without the ‘experience’ we would never ‘learn’ to trust in Jesus. It is only by experiencing these trials do we gain the muscle, faith and confidence to trust in Jesus. Believe me friends not every experience is bad, I was driving to a destination and was about to make a right hand turn, so I was in the right hand lane. I clearly heard the impression of the Holy Spirit instructing me to change into the left hand lane. Thinking it was strange but having full trust in Jesus I made the lane change and rounded the corner only to find a huge wooden box slap bang in the middle of the right hand lane. It still gives me goose bumps, I only had a little car and the result of hitting that box would have totalled my car not to mention what it would have done to me. I am ever grateful that I have placed my trust in Jesus. Just in case you want to hear the rest of the story, well the emergency lane was empty so I moved over, the car behind me in the right hand lane was a huge four wheel drive with a massive steel bull bar, he made short work of the box and we all sailed right on safely.
Friends, Jesus is out to save us, He loves us dearly and He desires us to be happy. This is hard as we are living in Satan’s playground, but Jesus has a home in glory for us and He has promised to come again and take us home to be with Him.
John 14:2,3 “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
Friends, I hope you have got some understanding into why the bad things happen, let’s go back to the previous statement and find out why Jesus doesn’t always block the devil. Now before we start I would like to get one thing perfectly straight. Jesus never causes the pain, or trouble but He often does use it.
2nd Corinthians 4:17 “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;”
See friends, look closer, yes you are in pain and yes you are struggling but who is that beside you holding your hand? Who is opening all the doors so you can pass through? Who is teaching you to have a blind faith in Jesus. Remember His promise in Psalms.
Psalms 23:4 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
Friends, Jesus loves us dearly.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Yes the path is hard, no we cannot ‘learn’ to have ‘trust’ if we don’t ‘experience’ it first. We are living in Satan’s playground and he delights in misery but Jesus is always beside us.
Genesis 28:15 “And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest…”
Friends, bad things are going to happen, we are building faith in Jesus and we are ever learning to trust Him. Jesus will carry us through.
Psalms 37:5 “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”
Every storm, every trial builds muscle and as we get stronger our trust in Jesus grows, Jesus is beside us. Friends please, put your hand in the hand of our Saviour and learn to have trust in Him.
Psalms 46:1 “…God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”