Why Bad Things Happen to People

I got to thinking on Sunday in church... insert lame joke about thinking never being a good idea for me... and began to wonder why God does allow bad things to happen to good people or just any people, in fact. I've wondered this a lot before. In the past few months, my friends and family and I have struggled with really hard things in life- death, broken relationships, no jobs but mouths to feed, physical illness, tornado destruction, car accidents, arrests, injuries, depression, and lots and lots of pain. I think sometimes we come back around that question and just think that we can't ever figure it out- writing it off as "No one knows the mind of the Lord and no one has been His counselor." Or maybe we only really think about it when we get put on the spot. Either way, we don't seem to have a pat answer for it which is something we kinda want when someone questions God's actions. We want to put them in place with an easy, pat answer.

An important point is that when we ask this question, we are at least acknowledging that God has the power to stop the pain and put an end to our "bad things." Of course, I've wrestled with the defining of terms. God's definition of "good" is anything that brings Him glory and my definition of "good" is anything that is a positive in my life or rather anything that benefits me. Although mentally acknowledging that my definitions are different than God's is a start, I feel like I missed the point.

During the message at church Sunday (which is absolutely fabulous and highly recommended by the way- you can find the talks HERE) my pastor was discussing how we have to unpack our baggage of our past before we can really get into a solid relationship. He went on to talk about how we can't explain away the hurt usually and we don't know why bad things happen to people. And then I got sidetracked. But I think the Holy Spirit really opened my eyes.

God allows bad things to happen to people (even those who don't believe in Him), because He is in the restoration. Jesus "wrecks" our lives on a regular basis because when He puts the pieces back together, our lives reflect a more beautiful and intricate masterpiece than ever before. He is in the healing. He is in the forgiveness. He is in the recovery. He is in the rebuilding. Yeah- our lives are never the same, but that's the point. He didn't want them to stay the same. When His vessels are broken and He is putting the pieces back together, they only become something more beautiful and awesome than before. I think God is the only One who we can say that about. Your heart is never the same and He smiles at You calls you beautiful and amazing. You are His and He has only made you more radiant. We don't really see that though. We tend to stop at pain and hurt and say "why?" The story of Jesus never stops at the pain and suffering. He always restores and heals and when He does, we stand amazed at the masterpiece He created.