I was relaxing in my living room with a really good friend, her mom, and her grandmother when, with sadness from what had been happening within their family, my friend asked, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
Her aunt had been in an abusive relationship for several years, but each time her aunt tried to leave, her spouse would convince her he had changed and would no longer abuse her, though he eventually would. This cycle repeated itself for so long that her aunt was now suffering from the traumatic experiences she had endured leading up to this point.
My heart was broken over my sweet friend’s family.
This hadn’t been the first time someone had asked me this question, and it wasn’t the first time I had asked it myself. But, it was the first time God spoke to me in a way that forever deepened my understanding of bad things happening to good people.
As I sat there in silence for a moment, slowly exhaling a sigh of discouragement, the Holy Spirit met with me where I was and breathed life into each of our hearts.
At first I was expecting the textbook answers. You know, the answers we have been so used to hearing inside the Church,
“A servant is not greater than his Master, the Lord suffered, and so will we.”
“The Bible says we will be persecuted, but not to be discouraged.”
“Consider yourself blessed when you face trials of many kinds.”
“Suffering is just a part of the Christian journey.”
“No one is good and we live in a fallen world.”
And while all these things are true and have been powerful reminders to me when faced with persecution, these answers were not at all what the Holy Spirit spoke to me in that moment while addressing suffering.
While I began to fumble for the right answer, I silently asked God for His insight and wisdom to respond to my dearest friends. He immediately showed me an image of His perfect love displayed through good people enduring bad things. I began to describe a room of cancer patients undergoing chemo, each one carrying the heaviness and darkness of cancer in their own hearts. The Holy Spirit shared with me how many people experiencing cancer need the hope and light of Christ to meet them where they are and to walk with them through the darkness. The Spirit continued to bring circumstances and situations of “good” people experiencing bad situations that have positioned them to help others experience God’s love. We left that day feeling encouraged and strengthened knowing our trials and struggles are never without divine purpose.
Later that day, the Lord brought to mind all the people I had met who had endured bad things as a Christian, and/or before becoming a Christian. Situations that could have been the destruction of their lives, but became the testimonies they use to bring others to Jesus. The more I contemplated the people I have met over the years, the more I realized that my friends and I are people who have endured through:
Drug addictions
Childhood abuse
Rape
Homelessness
Divorce
Cancer
Abandonment
Physical Abuse
Death of a Spouse
Miscarriage
Death of a Child
Marital Affairs
Suicide
It wasn’t until several months later when the same topic of suffering was in mind and the Lord spoke to me again by saying, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” In that moment, everything clicked. It seemed as if Christ had graciously collected the dirt from which I had been formed, sprinkled water from the Fountain of Life, and covered my eyes with mud in order that He might reveal even greater mysteries of His love.
Suffering for the sake of Christ really is a blessing, because if we are going to seek and save the lost, we have to be willing to go to places that are dark, cold, and lonely. Places where people who are lost find themselves hopeless and chained by their own inner thoughts and experiences.
I am not talking about engaging in sinful behaviors or participating in activities that would ever dishonor our Savior, but saying “yes” to Jesus means being His Hands and Feet in every situation we find ourselves in.
We have to remember that when Jesus died, His body was buried, and His Spirit overpowered every depth of sinful territory. The darkness that was formerly occupied by Satan was destroyed so we would no longer be a prisoner of sin without hope. When He rose from the grave, He abolished the power of sin and death once and for all. Jesus endured the very depth of hell so He could always be within our reach. No matter how low we find ourselves in circumstances and situations, we can still find Jesus where we are. However, not everyone knows that Freedom has already paved the path from the depths of death and hell to the heights of redemption in every situation. And sometimes the Lord will call us to go to those depths where His children dwell in order to help them recognize His presence and lead them to the path Jesus has already paved for their freedom.
So, why do bad things happen to good people? Because if God can’t send us to those who are found in the depths of despair, those who are lost will never know the hope available to them. Some of us are willing, most of us are not, but regardless of where we are, there are still people who need Jesus. It is up to us to find them.