Certainly no one denies the presence of evil in the world. Christians acknowledge that terrible things happen
every day. But how do we account for evil and still maintain God's power and goodness?
We Brought it on Ourselves
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned (Romans 5:12)
The simple answer to the question of why bad things happen in the world is: it's OUR fault. No one can say they are not part of the problem because everyone has sinned and turned away from God; no one even seeks God (Romans 3:10-18). We are responsible for the mess we're in. It is because of our rebellion against God that we see the effects of sin and death in the world today.
For the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23a)
God tells us plainly, just like He told Adam in the Garden (Genesis 2:15-17), that death is the just consequence for sin. From our perspective, death seems like a "bad" thing. We don't like it. It's not pleasant to see loved ones die and it doesn't seem pleasant to die ourselves. Death is, indeed, a very sad thing. But when we look at sin through the lens of God's justice, we see that death is "good" in the sense that God's judgment is always right and fair. We may not like to admit it, but we all experience suffering and death because we DESERVE it. However, even though God is a good judge for punishing sin, that does NOT mean He enjoys doing it. On the contrary, God tells us that He takes no pleasure in the death of anyone, even the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23, 30-32). He urges people to repent from their sins so that they will live, rather than remain in their sin and die. The very fact that God offers us an alternative to death tells us that God is more than fair with us.
Even Though We Have Sinned, God is Gracious
We are all wicked sinners who have earned a death sentence because of our treason against the perfect and holy God, yet He shows us grace! As condemned people, every breath we breathe is one more than we deserve. Remember, God told Adam plainly: "If you eat the fruit of this tree, you will die." As soon as Adam ate the forbidden fruit, he opened himself to receive judgment. God would have been just and fair to carry out Adam and Eve's punishment that very day. Although they were expelled from the Garden and came under the curse of sin from that time on (Genesis 3:16-19), Adam and Eve did not die until many years later. Once they had sinned, every day after that was a gift from God and stands as a testimony to His patience and grace.
Not only did God grant mankind some extra time before executing justice, but He also gave them the promise of a Savior who would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15) and then He performed the first animal sacrifice to indicate how this Savior would atone for their sin (Genesis 3:21). Contrary to what most people think, doing "good deeds" doesn't make up for our sin (Isaiah 64:6). Yes, God has given us His law so that we might know what is right, but it only shows us our sin; it doesn't fix the problem (Romans 3:20). Death is the penalty for sin. Therefore, only a death can make anyone's sin right.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)
The ultimate display of God's grace toward sinners is when He DIED on their behalf. It's one thing to give a criminal on death row some extra time before his sentence is carried out. We might even be willing to grant one last request. But it's almost unthinkable to suppose that a completely innocent person would willingly take the punishment on himself so that the criminal could go free. Such is God's immeasurable grace toward a wayward people! In light of this truth, God commands us to give up our sinful ways and put our faith in the sacrifice of Jesus so that we may have eternal life instead of eternal death (John 3:16).
To complain or protest about the "bad stuff" that happens in life is to forget man's wretchedness and God's holiness and grace. Given our sin against our Creator, we don't even deserve to wake up each morning. We are all on borrowed time. Whenever something "bad" happens to us, we should remember that it's only by God's grace we are not dead yet. Why do bad things happen? That's easy: because we've sinned! We shouldn't even be alive right now! The better question is: Why does anything good happen at all to sinners like us? The answer is marvelous: because God's grace is so great that He can show immeasurable patience and love to people who deserve only His wrath. Behold God's goodness and repent from your sin, trust in the power of Jesus' sacrifice to cover everything you've ever done wrong (past, present, and future), and live!
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