A different perspective

     One question that I have heard many times before and you may have heard this question before. You may have even asked this question yourself. It's a question that many people ask after certain traumatic events. Events like the New Orleans attack this past week where 14 people were killed. 

    That question goes something like this "Why would God allow Good people to suffer?" or "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

    I remember a couple of years back I had a conversation with a man who was asking that very question. Which gave me an opportunity to share with him a few things that I have learned both from God's word and my own personal experiences with grief and hardships.

    The first thing I remember telling that man was that one of the major reasons why bad things happen is because we are filled with bad people. This man view point was that God was the source of all these troubles. In fact many times when this question is asked it is asked with the idea to put the blame on God. However, it's important to remember that this world is filled with sinful and depraved human beings in this world. 

    I continued telling this man that God's original design was created with perfection in mind. No disease, no sickness and no sin. All things that God had made was perfect and was in perfect order.

    So what happened? What went wrong? If God created the world in perfection where there is no diseases, sickness or sin, then why is there these things in the world today? Well the answer to that question is that we messed it all up. 

    God had given the two humans that He had created in his own image one simple rule to follow. We find in the book of  Genesis, that God told Adam not to eat of one tree. Simple right? Yet wouldn't you know it Adam and Eve failed to follow that one instruction. They turned from following God's design and went there own way (that is really what sin is; going our own way instead of following God's original design) 

    From that day on the mankind along with the entire world had been cursed and filled with all sorts of things that God has never designed or intended for us. 

    It's easy for us to try to point our finger at God and say it is all his fault. However, the truth of the matter it really is ours. All of us are sinful, and we live in a sinful world. All of us have been guilty of hurting other people to one degree or another. We have all said things that have caused pain and heartbreak to other people. All of us have acted selfishly. 

    So, Why do bad things happen to Good people...Well one reason is because we are all sinners who lived in a world of sin, that's why. 

    However I shared with that man something else that I think is important as we think about loss, and tragedy to keep in mind.  I told that man that we often look at situations in our lives from the wrong vantage point. As we look at situations in our lives we often look at it with a pessimistic point of view. We focus on a job that we lost, instead of focusing on the job God gave us for so many years. We focus on our declining health instead of focusing on the years we spent in good health. We will focus on losing someone we loved, instead of focusing on the years we were given with them as a blessing. 

    In fact we rarely thank God for the blessings in our lives, until those blessings in our lives are gone. That is when we tend to acknowledge God. When we feel the hurt and pain of losing a blessing God had given us, that we simply took for granted. Rarely do we look around us and look for the blessings that God has given us. Instead we look around us and look for the things that are missing, the things that are not right or as they should be.  

    Take tithing for instance. When we talk about tithing we often focus on the 10% we are called to give. There are many today who view tithing as an antiquated idea, one that we are no longer bound by. Really? You have a problem with giving 10% to God? You see the problem is that we have the wrong perspective. We look at the 10% we have to give, but not the 90% we get to keep. Does not 100% of what you have belong to God anyway? Without God you would not even have the tithe to give in the first place. 

    Here is the point that I want to make. Let's strive to focus on our blessings instead of our losses. When we are dealing with some tragic situation that we don't just focus on the negative. Instead, we look to God in it. That along with our grieving over our losses and pain, we don't fail to be reminded of the blessings we have been given to even experience our losses we have felt. That when tragedy strikes we don't jump to pointing our fingers at God, but instead we direct our prayers to Him. Lets try to remember that God is trying to fix the messes that we as mankind has made. 

As it is written, "He scattered; he has given to the poor; his righteousness remains forever." Now He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for eating, may He supply and multiply your seed, and increase the fruits of your righteousness you being enriched in everything to all generosity, which works out thanksgiving to God through us.  - (2Co 9:9-11)