Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

Why do bad things happen to good people? The biblical answer is there are no “good” people. In Mark 10:18, Jesus said that only God is good. Because God is good, He will see to it that justice is done on the Day of Judgment. If He gave each of us justice right now, every one of us would end up in a terrible place called Hell, and we would deserve it. God is the standard of righteousness, and all of us have fallen short of that standard, so there really aren’t “good” people that “bad” things happen to.

A better question is this: “Why does God allow good things to happen to bad people?” With reasons known only to God, He demonstrated His own love for us in that “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” In spite of our evil, wicked, sinful nature, God still loves us. He loved us enough to die to take the penalty for our sins when He was crucified on the cross.

Often things happen to us that we simply cannot understand. Instead of doubting God’s goodness in times of suffering, we should trust Him. We should echo the words of Job: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” The book of Job shows us that God is trustworthy, even when we don’t understand the suffering around us.

Why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened once…and He volunteered.