God and Bad Things

October 15, 2023 

This week it’s horrible to listen to the news about Israel: so many civilians are dead. There are deaths, injuries, people kidnapped, people missing, so much suffering in the Hamas conflict. It’s frightening and upsetting. If you feel upset, it means you have a heart! 

The question that gets asked in times like these is, “Why would a good God allow bad things to happen?” It’s a big question. An important one. Because some people lose faith in God over it. If God is good, they say, He would not allow evil and tragedy in the world.  

But think about what that question “Why would a good God allow bad things to happen?” means. For example, have you ever done anything bad? Raise your hand if you ever did anything bad? The question we have to ask is, “How could God allow ME to happen!” Or another way to say it, “The only way to convince me of a good God, is to make ME go away!”  

God didn’t eliminate all evil in the world. God sent his son Jesus into the world. He was born and grew up and went out to teach and heal and eat dinner with people. One thing Jesus didn’t do? He didn’t eliminate all evil. Jesus came across evil people, like King Herod. King Herod killed a lot of people. The things he did sound like the terrible violence and killing in the Middle East this week. Jesus was God, Jesus was face to face with Herod, but did not kill or hurt him.  

What Jesus did do was gather followers, the 12 disciples. Jesus didn’t eliminate them, instead, he worked on helping them follow God and be better people, he worked on getting the evil out of them. 

Do you wonder, “Why would a good God allow bad things to happen?” Well, there is a story in the gospel of John, that deals with this question about God and bad things, “Where is God when bad things happen?”  

It’s the gospel of John chapter 11. Jesus had these three friends: they were brother and sisters, Lazarus, Mary and Martha. They had Jesus over to their house sometimes for dinner. One day Lazarus became very sick. Mary and Martha sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” Jesus and these three were close, Jesus loved them, and they loved Jesus. You would expect Jesus to come running when asked to heal a good friend. 

Instead, he says, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” And although he loves Mary Martha and Lazarus, Jesus stays where he is two more days. He doesn’t go right away to heal Lazarus. You may wonder, I thought he loved them, they were his friends. But Jesus didn’t do anything for two days. 

After two days, Jesus said, “Let’s go.” And he told his disciples, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” What?! That sounds so harsh, Jesus says, Lazarus is dead and for your sake, I’m glad I wasn’t there to heal him! Why does he do that? Jesus knows we will face sorrow and tragedy in our lives. For our sake, Jesus is glad he was not there to heal Lazarus, because now he will work an amazing miracle, so that we may believe.  

Meanwhile back in Bethany, at Lazarus’ house, everybody wonders, Where is Jesus? They are looking at their sundials and saying, he was sent for so many days ago! Verse 17 says, On his arrival, Jesus learns that Lazarus has died and was in the tomb for four days. So, Lazarus is not just dead, he’s four days dead!  Martha goes to meet Jesus as he is coming, and says, “Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” She’s saying, Jesus, this is partially your fault. She’s disappointed. It’s understandable for you and me to be disappointed when bad things happen to good people. She wants to know, Jesus, why didn’t you come when we sent you a message? Why didn’t you come before that, since you probably knew before we told you?  

Have you ever felt like God was not listening when you prayed? God didn’t do what you prayed for, and you feel like, maybe God doesn’t care? That’s how Martha feels. She is trying to have faith in this terrible moment. She says to Jesus, “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus says, “Your brother will rise again.” 

Martha assumes Jesus is talking about the heaven. She says, I know, he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus isn’t just trying to make her feel better.  He says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” The light of God has come into the world. I am the one who brings hope in hopeless situations. Jesus says, “The one who believes in me will live, even though they die, and whoever lives believing in me will never die.” Death has lost its power.  

Jesus asks Martha, “Do you believe this?” Martha says, “Yes, Lord.” “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” 

Then Mary comes. They all go to the tomb. Jesus sees Mary weeping, and other people were weeping, and Jesus is deeply moved and troubled. Then comes an amazing verse: v. 35. Most Bible verses takes some work to memorize. But this verse is just two words. They got to be a verse because the two words are so important! “Jesus wept.” Jesus is all emotional. He loved his friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Jesus loves you and cares about you! He cares about the tragedy you go through, your grief, your pain.  

The people watching said, “See how he loved Lazarus!” Still, some said, “but couldn’t he who could heal the blind, couldn’t Jesus have kept this man from dying?” Here it is again: people asking, why didn’t Jesus come when called? 

Jesus cared deeply about Lazarus, but he didn’t show up to heal him. He didn’t come earlier, for the sake of all, for the sake of us, to perform a miracle, so we will believe. Jesus came to the tomb of Lazarus and said, “Take away the stone.” But Lord, said Martha, by this time there will be a bad odor. He’s been dead for four days! Nobody thought this was a good idea! So often before he performs a miracle, Jesus asks the person what they want. They say “I want to see” or “I want to be healed. But this time nobody wanted the stone rolled away! They thought it was just too late, that Jesus couldn’t fix this. Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they move the stone. And Jesus prays a God-you-and-I-know-what’s-going-on kind of prayer. “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”  Then Jesus said, “Lazarus, come out!” 

Lazarus came out, with strips of linen wrapped around him. And Jesus said to everybody, Hey, don’t just stand there, take the grave clothes off of him!  

Vs. 45 says, “Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.”  They believed Jesus was, the Son of God, the Savior. They believed because of what they saw. Seeing led to believing that led to trusting.  

The light had come into the world, for the benefit of the world. God in Jesus had come to dwell with people. But God didn’t eliminate evil, or evil people. He placed evil on the shoulders of his Son, so that you would not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved this evil world, God so loved the evil people of the world, that he sent his son. By placing our faith in Him, we are not lost, but have the life Jesus came to give. 

My challenge for you this week is to think of a difficulty you want God to help with and imagine Jesus weeping over that difficulty.  

If you are on the verge of losing faith because of evil in the world, or because of tragedy or hardship in your life, don’t give up! God makes the impossible possible. Evil and death met it’s match in Jesus. When nobody thought Jesus should roll the stone away: he said, Roll it away! And good thing! Lazarus walked out, raised from the dead! When we put our trust in Jesus, we have abundant life now, and eternal life, as well as hope that does not disappoint. God sent Jesus! No matter how difficult times are, we can believe God is more powerful than any evil in this world. And He loves all the evil people in the world. Amen.