Why Do Bad Things Happen?

My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
-Psalm 139:15-16

The Lord our God has plans for us, those plans are good... but they are not always what we think they should be. As a matter of fact, time and time again the Lord brought His people through all kinds of suffering and later on made His purpose clear. Imagine the frustration of Moses when God told him to tell Pharoah to let his people go, only to be met with more severe suffering and slavery? But in the end, God was glorified through their suffering and they could "...remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm..." (Duet. 5:15).

In the Fall 2002 issue of Journal of Biblical Counseling, William P. Smith notes that "I have come to learn that much of the fruit of the Spirit grows under adverse conditions." (pg. 32) Therefore, while our culture tends to ask the Lord to remove the burdens from our backs--we might do even better to ask Him to give us stronger backs. If you are not suffering, you would be wise to hit your knees and ask God where is your refining fire?

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial

which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened

to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's

sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be

glad with exceeding joy. -1 Peter 4:12-13

A life of ease is exactly opposite of what the Bible tells us Christianity is all about. Have you found this to be true in your own life? To be continued...