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Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? - Your Daily Forward Devotional

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In The Days of the Judges

In The Days of the Judges

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A Glimmer of Hope

Bitter or a Believer?

Bitter or a Believer?

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Great Faithfulness

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John Saw It All

Worry About Yourself

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Worry About Yourself

Count the Cost

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Count the Cost

Do You Love God?

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Jump All In

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Jump All In

Gone Fishing Again

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Gone Fishing Again

You May Have Life In His Name

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You May Have Life In His Name

The Disciple Who Believed

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The Disciple Who Believed

The Disciple Who Doubted

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The Disciple Who Doubted

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The Return of Christ

Just Jesus

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Just Jesus

Joy In Christ

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Joy In Christ

Privileges and Practices for Christians

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Privileges and Practices for Christians

Grace and Freedom

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Grace and Freedom

So We Do Not Lose Heart

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So We Do Not Lose Heart

Fatherly Discipline

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Fatherly Discipline

The Righteous Shall Live By Faith

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The Righteous Shall Live By Faith

Witnesses To the End of The Earth

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Witnesses To the End of The Earth

God in The Flesh

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God in The Flesh

The Great Physician

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The Great Physician

Service and Sacrifice

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Service and Sacrifice

The Long-Awaited King of the Jews

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The Long-Awaited King of the Jews

Is It Even Worth It?

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Is It Even Worth It?

A Future Perspective

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A Future Perspective

Misplaced Priorities

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Misplaced Priorities

Judgment and Joy

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Judgment and Joy

The Righteous Will Live By Faith

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The Righteous Will Live By Faith

Pride Goes Before Destruction

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Pride Goes Before Destruction

Does God Care About Justice?

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Does God Care About Justice?

That All Should Be Saved

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That All Should Be Saved

A Battle Between Brothers

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A Battle Between Brothers

The Cold Hard Truth

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The Cold Hard Truth

Just You Wait

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Just You Wait

Idolatry Vs. Adultery

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Idolatry Vs. Adultery

The Lord Reigns Supreme

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Restored to Glory

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Restored to Glory

The Saddest Chapter In The Book

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The Bearer of Bad News

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Salvation Is of The Lord

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Salvation Is of The Lord

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Read the Instructions

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A Real Relationship

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Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

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God Behind the Scenes

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God Behind the Scenes

Miraculous Reconstruction

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Miraculous Reconstruction

Coming Home

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Coming Home

Not Just A Building

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Not Just A Building

The Family of God

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The Family of God

Discipline and Destruction

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Discipline and Destruction

A Heart and Kingdom Divided

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A Heart and Kingdom Divided

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No King But God?

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A Love That Redeems

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Rebel, Rescue, Repeat

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A Literal Scarlet Thread

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He’s Faithful, So Be Faithful

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Holy as He Is Holy

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Passed Over

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The Beginning of Redemption

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The Beginning of Redemption

The Lord Is Near

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I’ll Be Happy When…

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Working Hard or Hardly Working?

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You Can’t Hide a Lie

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The Sin Underneath All Others

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Play the Long Game

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Where Does Joy Come From?

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Well Worth the Wait

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Getting to Know God

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Why Don’t We Just Give Up?

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Take Heart, He’s With You

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Out of Sight, Out of Mind

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What Are You Afraid Of?

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Nothing Can Separate Us

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What Has God Forgiven You For?

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But by the Grace Of God

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A Healthy Swap

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Tell Yourself the Truth

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He Hears You

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Listen and Learn

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Do You Need to Put Up Some Walls?

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Keep Your Cool

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Great Is His Faithfulness

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Move on to the Meat

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Saving Faith Works

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Saving Faith Works

Is Other People’s Faith Your Business?

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Is Other People’s Faith Your Business?

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Back to the BibleMay 21, 2022 12:00 am GMT

Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

 

May 21

 

Read Job 19:23-27 (ESV)

“Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!

 

Reflect

What lessons has God taught you through suffering? Do you ever struggle with the “why” of your trials?

 

All of us have wrestled with the question of why God allows suffering. In fact, the problem of evil is often cited by atheists as a reason why they don’t believe in God at all. It is often even more baffling to us that a loving, all-powerful God would allow good people to suffer.

 

In the book of Job, a righteous man wrestles with that exact question. We don’t know exactly who wrote the book of Job, but details from the text about the culture lead scholars to believe that it is the oldest book in the Bible probably written about 2,000 B.C.

 

The very beginning of the book gives us insight into events in heaven. Satan approached God and asserted that the only reason Job was righteous and faithful to the Lord was because God had blessed him. Satan predicted that if God allowed Job to suffer, then he would curse God. So God allowed Satan to test Job. His only limit was that he could not kill Job. Satan attacked Job’s health, his livelihood, and killed his children.

 

In chapters 3-37, we read conversations that Job had with his wife and his friends. His wife’s advice was to “curse God and die” (Job 2:9). Job rebuked her: “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10). His friends no doubt meant well but their conclusions about Job’s problems were incorrect and overly simplistic. Job repeatedly maintained his innocence and felt as if his friends were judging him. Job and his friends debated back and forth about why God allowed Job to suffer while evil people appeared to prosper. Job definitely questioned God and wanted to argue his case before Him, but he didn’t curse him or reject him. On the contrary he said, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him…” (Job 13:15).

 

In chapters 38-42, God answered for Himself by speaking through a whirlwind. Basically, God inquired where Job was when He created the world? Does Job have the power or the know-how to rule and care for the entire world? Only God as the Creator and Sustainer of life has that knowledge and power. Who are mere men to question Almighty God or make assumptions about His ways? After God’s speech, we see Job admit that compared to God, he is insignificant and lacks the wisdom to answer (Job 40:4-5). In other words, he wisely and humbly shuts his mouth.

 

God also challenged Job asking “Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?” (Job 40:8). Essentially, when Job was complaining about God allowing him to suffer while evil prospered, he was acting like he knew better than God. He was asserting that God was in the wrong! That is quite the accusation to make against God! And yet, if we are being honest, I’d guess that we’ve all made this assertion about God before. Somehow we think that if we were God, we’d do it better. Yikes.

 

In those moments, we need to humble ourselves like Job does in response. In Job 42:2-3, Job repents and submits to God’s sovereignty and authority over his life: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”

 

In the end, the Lord restored Job’s fortune and family. In fact, He blessed Job twofold and he lived to be an old man who saw four generations of his offspring. God gave Job so much after his intense experience of suffering. But there is one thing Job never got—the answer as to why he was suffering. Instead, he was reminded who God is—our Creator and our Sustainer who is all-powerful, all-knowing, perfectly just, and perfectly loving. When Job was reminded of that, he didn’t need to know the reason for his pain. He knew he could trust God because He is sovereign over all.

 

Even in this ancient book, we see a Scarlet Thread of redemption. In today’s verse, we see that Job clearly believed that God would redeem his life after death. He also clearly believed in a resurrected body because after his flesh has decayed, he still believed he would see God in his flesh. Friends, we will likely never know the why behind the question of suffering. But we do know that like Job, God often uses suffering to test us, grow us, and mature us. We know that we can trust God because He is sovereign. Most of all, we know that our Redeemer lives and at last He will stand upon the earth. We’ll see Him in our own flesh with our own eyes.

 

Pray

Lord, I don’t understand why You’ve allowed suffering in my life. But I do know that You are sovereign. You can see the whole picture while I can only see a fragment. So I trust You. Take my trials and teach me more about You. Help me persevere and mature. No matter what, my hope is in You. Amen.

 

~ Pastor Nat Crawford

 

 

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C
coolokoyyokolooc
a year ago
Amen
likeReply
U
Glover
a year ago
I fully and humbly submit.
Knowing who my sovereign Lord is.
Who my God is.
likeReply
D
debbia.brown-rose
a year ago
Thanks for the clarity and reassurance that God is sovereign in my trials and tribulations
likeReply
keju08
LaShall
a year ago
Lord continue helping me see though my trial. Amen
likeReply
T
theshepherdsmaiden
a year ago
The Lord has seen me through so many trials and tribulations, its crazy! I have been ill since I was young. Sometimes I would get angry, and like Job, question God why my illness happened to me. I have come to grips with myself that no ones life is perfect. Throughout all my trials and tribulations, God has seen me through, and I am most grateful for that.
1
1 reply
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Speks
Speks
a year ago
Your testimony is so important! Several days ago I was reading in my Daily Light that there's a day coming when God will wipe away every tear and in victory He will "swallow up death forever". There will be no more sorrow and sighing.
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