Ensign: Why Do Good Things Happen To Bad People

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3

AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 15 November 2013

WORD COUNT: 22,445

When I was a high school senior, I read Why Bad Things Happened To Good People for extra credit. The title of Harold Kushner's book has gotten to be a catchphrase for those of us asking where God is in our day-to-day lives, IF He is. Starting from the dilemma of Job in the Old Testament book bearing his name, where he lost his flocks and herds and his family (save his wife), everything that in our day we're often taught defines us – who are we and what do we have in relation to others, especially God – Kushner writes about facing this when confronted with his own personal tragedy, the death of his son as a teenager from a rapid-aging disease. Where is God in the midst of disease, tragedy, and conflict?

Fair question; I imagine that in the beginning of the thirteenth chapter of Luke there were people in Jesus' audience who had a similar question. They told Him about “the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices”; now, even with the amount I don't know about Jewish sacrificial law, that sounds pretty unpleasant. (Essentially, Pilate had them killed as they offered sacrifices in the temple, and we're not told why.) Jesus did something you and I would consider impolite; he answered that question with a question. Verse two: “Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things?” This was what Job asked, what Rabbi Kushner asked, and often what we ask.

Perhaps not with these words, but where is God in the midst of our suffering/my suffering/is there really a God, since His world has gotten so out of control? (You think I don't ask this sometimes?) I often think we should switch Rabbi Kushner’s – and my apologies here if I am misrepresenting the man, it is not deliberate, please forgive me – title around. Why Do Good Things Happen To Bad People is often the question I think we are really asking because we really are ingrained, if we're honest, with a sense of what is just and fair. Why should the Pilates, the Ahabs, the Jezebels, the Assads, and the unmanned drones of the world have the right to kill people indiscriminately, why did eighteen people die when Siloam's tower fell on them?

Why why why why why?

You're gonna go insane if you try to answer that one; even the Bible doesn't offer a clear-cut answer to why do we suffer. (Why there is suffering, yes; it’s called sin.) Consider Jesus' answer to them, so important that he says it twice, in verses three and five: “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish.” Break this down a bit with me; whenever Jesus says I tell you” that's another way of saying, “Hey! Pay attention.” “Nay” is an older English way of saying no, as in this case, “No, the Galileans and the tower victims did not die because they were sinful.” (THAT was hard for first-century Jews to wrap their heads around, for they'd been taught if you suffered in life, it's because you didn't keep the laws and commandments of God.)

Who is determining what is good and what is bad? Certainly that is not to make light of what anyone has suffered and lost, for we all have; it’s just a matter of degree. But is what I’ve heard as an acronym for “Behold the Underlying Truth”, or as the lead-in to the difference between what a person says and what he really means; Jesus uses it here to draw His hearers’ attention back to what is really, eternally important. Except ye repent, unless you turn away from the life of sin, the active separation from fellowship with God our Creator that all of us have (and all of us still do, hence the need for us to be forgiven is constant. Turning away from sin doesn’t mean you’ll never sin again; it means you will recognize the temptation to sin when it comes.

That I will recognize it, and run away. And ye shall all likewise perish? That does not necessarily mean we’ll die (or Jesus’ hearers would have died) because a tower fell on us, we got slain at the altar, or died of a quick old age, but Jesus talks about dying and facing eternity – how much more has to happen to convince you that this life is not all there is? – without your spirit, your real self, in order. Another phrase used almost jokingly in our culture today is prepare to meet your God almost as a euphemism for dying. But it’s no joke to die; though you and I don’t know the exact moment we are going to die – or Jesus, God’s Son returns for us, whichever comes first – we can know we can be prepared to confront life every minute. And we’ll triumph.

Because God is good,

David

P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book, and I hope to be an encourager to action too! If you find that I'm not or you want me to get lost, just let me know -- thank you!

Thank You, Lord, that we can come to you in prayer and that You provide for all our needs, even when we don't know what they are. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence there and around the world.

Thank You, Lord, for everyone in leadership and service, both here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have and the promise of new life through You. I pray that we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.