Pondering His Holy Word

You would only need to watch the news to learn about the constant onslaught of evils and tragedies report. Hurricanes, fire season, earthquakes, mass shootings, political unrest, and road rage. You could even watch the local news to see the evil that is happening in your area. It would seem that a lot of tragedy and evil is happening. It seems to happen everywhere. It is easy for non-believers and Christians alike to yell the familiar refrain, “Why would a loving God allow such evil to happen to innocent people?” 
       How does the Bible address this question? After Jesus learns about the Galileans that Pilate had killed, He said. “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you unless you repent, you will likewise perish.” He made the same point about the 18 people who were killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed. Jesus didn’t deny the fact that evil happens in the world, but he used it as a call to repent and turn to God. 
          Whether we die peacefully in our sleep or in a horrible car crash, we will all have our day. Most of the time, our cause of death does not equate to how wicked we were. In fact, we are all born under the Headship of Adam, so we are naturally predisposed to evil. Unless we repent and turn to Jesus, we will face God’s wrath.  
         Why do bad things happen to good people? Yet, the Lord tells us that only God is good. Paul explains that no one does good or seeks God. Bad things happen because we are in a fallen world. 
          Even if someone is a “good person,” what makes them a good person? Can they say they never put anything before God? Have they never coveted their neighbors’ stuff or ever lied. Moreover, have they even been angry at their brother? Did they constantly honor their mother and father? Can they say they kept all of God’s commandments to the letter of the law and the spirit without fail? 
           Instead, does this person see themselves as good in comparison to an openly evil person? It is easy to call ourselves good when we compare ourselves to an obviously horrible person like Hitler. It is easy to label ourselves godly when we compare ourselves to obviously godless people. Yet, for us to be good and holy, we must keep all of His commandments. To say we only broke some of His commandments is saying that we broke all of His commandments. James states in his epistle, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” (2:10). If our journey is to the moon, a person who can jump 100 feet into the air is no better than a person who can’t jump at all because we will all fall under the gravity of our sin.  We all fall short. 
    There was only one good person to which something terrible happened. It was Jesus of Nazareth, and He volunteered. He died for those who were sinners. He took the full wrath of God for all of our sins, and because of it, we can live with the expectation that when we die, whether peacefully in our sleep or tragically, we can stand before God justified. We can’t be good, but Jesus was good for us, and by accepting him will send his Spirit to be good through us. 

Luke 13:1-5
There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Prayer: 

Dear Heavenly Father, 

We live in an evil and scary world, but we know that you send your son to die for our transgression. For that reason, we can stand justified through his righteousness. Be our comfort in this evil world. Send your spirit to be our guide and lead us to you through Jesus Christ. In His name, I pray, 

Amen.

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