They don’t have troubles like other people; they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else. They wear pride like a jeweled necklace and clothe themselves with cruelty. These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for! … Look at these wicked people—enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply. [Psalm 73:5-7,12 (NLT)]
In a recent Christianity Today article, Jared Dodson, teacher of biblical studies and theology at Bushnell University, wrote about his Gen Z students. They don’t ask the age-old question of why God allows bad things to happen to good people because they expect sin and evil in our fallen world. Having seen enough abuse of power, conflict, violence, rioting, exploitation, and mayhem in their young lives, they assume the good will suffer undeservedly. What they don’t understand is why the bad don’t seem to suffer along with them!
Both their question and their desire for evil people to get their comeuppance isn’t new—we find it in Psalms. In the imprecatory psalms, the psalmists’ call down gruesome curses like, “Let their eyes go blind so they cannot see, and make their bodies shake continually,” [69:23] “Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks!” [137:9] and “May they be like snails that dissolve into slime, like a stillborn child who will never see the sun.” [58:8] The human part of us wants those who inflict suffering to be punished and suffer for it! That bad people seem to escape judgment and the bad things of life seems contradictory to the way life should go.
As believers, we may think of ourselves as the righteous ones, but, as sinners, we’re as undeserving as the “bad” unrighteous ones. Paul told the Romans, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” [3:23] Nevertheless, when we receive undeserved blessings, we don’t complain about the unfairness of it! Apparently, it’s only unfair when other sinners are undeservedly blessed!
Even so, it does seem like the ones who wreak havoc and inflict pain on the innocent remain unharmed, unpunished, and successful! Although we want judgment and justice here and now, ours is not a world of retribution. Rather than blinding the bad guys or smashing their babies against rocks, we must leave vengeance to the Lord. He is not oblivious to what’s happening and we can take comfort in knowing that there will be a reckoning, if not in this world, then in the hereafter. Everyone who lived will face God one day; evil will be dealt with, justice will be done, and the world will be restored to proper order.
We have a good God who loves indiscriminately. Offering salvation to all of mankind, He gives good things (and not so good ones) to both the righteous and unrighteous. Jesus told us, “For he [God] gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.” [Mat 5:45] As to knowing why bad things don’t happen to bad people, there is no satisfactory answer. Knowing why God does what He does is way above our pay grade—all we can do is trust His plan.
God’s unconditional love is a very difficult concept for people to accept because, in the world, there’s always payment for everything we receive. It’s just how things work here. But God is not like people! [Joyce Meyer]
God would never permit evil, if He could not bring good out of evil. [Augustine]
Wearing a stuffed backpack and carrying his Teddy bear, little Tommy walked past his neighbor’s house. A short while later, he walked by her house in the same direction. He disappeared around the corner only to reappear several minutes later. As he was passing her house for the fourth time, the neighbor asked him what he was doing. When Tommy explained he was running away, she asked why he was only circling the block. “Because I’m not allowed to cross the street!”
Things were going well for Moses in Midian: he was happily married, with a family, and tending his father-in-law’s sheep. Then God interrupted his comfortable life with a burning bush and a major task: free the Israelites. Moses reacted the way most of us would by questioning God. Who am I to do this? Who do I say sent me? What if they don’t believe me? He then told God he simply wasn’t up to the task. Not one to be thwarted, God responded to all of Moses’ concerns. He would be with him, provide the words, the proof, and even Aaron to do the talking. In short, God promised to provide and so Moses obeyed.
I think of Jesus’ instructions every time I pack for a trip! Take only what I’ve got on my back and the one pair of shoes on my feet? He’s got to be kidding! When we’re taking a trip, wanting to be prepared for any eventuality, it seems like I pack everything but the kitchen sink!
Although the common position for prayer was standing, Jesus fell to His knees that night in the garden of Gethsemane. Luke describes Him as praying so intensely that His sweat dropped like blood. Having used the word hósei, meaning “as if it were, like, as, as though, or much like,” Luke may have meant Jesus sweat so profusely that it dripped from Him like blood. Nevertheless, Luke was a doctor who paid great attention to detail; he may have described hematidrosis, a rare medical condition in which the capillaries rupture causing blood to seep into the sweat glands and then out onto the skin. It’s caused by high blood pressure, a bleeding disorder, or extreme distress or fear, such as facing abuse, torture or death on the cross! Whether Jesus’ sweat poured off his body as if it were blood or He literally sweat blood, the Lord’s prayer was so intense that an angel came and strengthened Him.
Scripture tells us that Jesus had at least six siblings: James, Joses, Simon, Jude, and two unnamed sisters. Can you imagine what it was like being a brother or sister to Jesus? Both his conception and birth were proclaimed by angels, a star announced His birth, and magi from the East presented Him with expensive gifts. It’s tough to top that sort of entrance into the world.
Devotions of the Heart 