Why do bad things happen?

Why do bad things happen to good people? As a Christian, I can honestly say I've struggles with this question. Over the past few months, though, I discovered some pretty awesome and comforting answers. Probably my favorite answer to date comes from a sermon I heard a few months ago and that is, "for one, we're not good people." After I heard that it was like a light bulb went off in my head. Duh we're not good people. We're sinners. That's not the only answer, though. Jesus also didn't promise us a life free of suffering. Jesus says in Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves..." If God's one and only son was beaten and put to death how can we think that as his followers our lives will be filled with rainbows and butterflies? It's ridiculous! But, we can take comfort in knowing that just as we share in Christ's suffering we will also share in his glory! (2 Corinthians 1:5) Knowing that I will delight when bad things happen because I know the glory I will experience when my time on earth is finished. 

There's another answer to this question. When bad things happen, God's power is made known. When I think about the times I pray the most, and spend the most time seeking after God in his word, it's always during times of adversity. When a close friend died, when my parents got divorced, when my husband lost his job. When we've exhausted all our options is when we seek the hardest after God. And don't you think he knows that? 2 Corinthians 12:9 says "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." What a sobering thought. When we're weak is when Christ's power rests on us. 

Don't let hardships and adversity push you away from God or cause you to questions his love. God is our father and at times fathers must discipline their children, but Proverbs 3 reminds us, "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights." So, if you are going through a hard time do not lose hope. Put your hope in the one who loves you, in the one who has kept every promise he has ever made, and the only one who will never let you down, your heavenly Father. During hard times I am always reminded of the story of Esther. She didn't ask to be chosen as the one to carry out God's plan to deliver the Jews and she knew it was going to be hard and death was surely a possibility, talk about difficult times. When she was questioning it all the words of Mordecai rang in her ears, "...And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Esther 4:14