Musings on “How Can a Good God Let Bad Things Happen?”

Note: This is not yet my review of this book. However, I did receive this from NavPress for review. I have been reading it almost daily and I just can’t let the new insights I’m gaining to just pass by. Hence, I am blogging about the things I’ve learned from this book so far.

How Can A Good God Let Bad Things Happen? by Mark Tabb

God is good, isn’t it? I’ve lived most of my life believing this basic truth about our Lord God. I still believe it till now. That has not changed and this is not what the author, Mark Tabb, wanted to point out.

What he wanted his readers to see is that even though God is good, God can still let bad things happen to us.

From reading the first few chapters of the book, here is what I have learned:

• Sin is already in this world. Ever since Adam and Eve chose to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, sin came into this world. Along with sin are its curses, death, destruction, cruelty and the like. Therefore, sin being a part of our innate nature, bad things really just naturally happen.

 

• Satan is not responsible for all of the bad things happening to us. We, too, are responsible whenever we choose to make the wrong decisions. God, in His grace and wisdom, gave us the will to choose. He does not want to dictate to us as if we are just mere puppets. He loves us and respects that we can make our own decision. Therefore, bad things can also happen due to the wrong decisions that we make. Consequences will always be the result of our unwise decisions.

Mark Tabb uses the life of Job to point out these truths to us.  Job, who is righteous in God’s sight, was prospered greatly by the Lord. Satan then comes to God and challenges Him. He said that if Job were not blessed with so much, then he will probably start cursing God. So God tells Satan that he can do with him whatever he pleases, but Job’s life must be spared. And so Job loses everything, literally. He loses his children, his assets, and he loses his health. He was covered with sores from head to toe. Job’s wife challenges him to “Curse God and die!” And here is Job’s answer:

He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.                 Job 2:10

Now here is where it gets interesting. The author points out that God does not just allow bad things to happen to us. By saying that God allows bad things, we are also saying that God is not the One responsible for the bad things, somebody else is. Usually, that somebody is Satan. Instead, God, in His Sovereignty, gives us the bad things along with the good. He does this because He is the only One who knows what will  happen next.

It’s scary to think that, right? That God can and will choose to give us trouble in life. But thinking about it some more, I realized that this is really God’s Sovereignty. You see, if I will only keep thinking that God is only all good and nothing bad can come from Him, then I am limiting God. The truth is God is God. He can really do anything He wants to do with our lives. It’s hard to understand and even harder to accept, but if I don’t accept that truth, then I am just deceiving myself.

However, even if we experience troubles in our lives, the kind that is not caused by sin, we must learn to place our trust in the Lord with the assurance that He knows best what He is doing.

My husband has been job hunting since the end of January. He’s been to several interviews, seemingly with good results. Until now, though, he is still out of work. He is the best at what he does. Anywhere he goes abroad, he succeeds. Strangely enough, he’s not experiencing that success, so far, here in Manila. We’ve not had any stable source of income since he came home from New Zealand. Come March, our children got sick one after the other. We had to confine them several times and pay the bill in full each time. Why so much trouble? I don’t believe that this trouble resulted in any sin that we committed. I do believe that the hand of God is behind all that is happening right now, good and bad. And I can believe that because I know that He always has the best plans laid out for our family. He has a purpose for our family, and if it will take those bad, troubled times to accomplish His purpose, He will do it. So be it, then.

So far, I am challenged by this book. My knowledge of God is being added to. I understand more about the Sovereignty of God. What, then, does God expect from us? One word: TRUST. Trust Him no matter what. Trust Him in everything.