Finding God's Goodness When Life Hurts预览

If God is not the author of evil, and Satan and mankind are to blame for sin, then how should we feel about the God Who got all this going in the first place?

I certainly do not understand why so many terrible things happen. Why did my Grandmother Esther die from cancer? Why did my father have diabetes and heart trouble? Why do I have asthma and back pain? Why do earthquakes happen, killing hundreds of thousands of people? Why are there tsunamis that wipe whole towns away like in Japan? Why did so many families get torn apart by COVID-19? Truly, these things are beyond my finite ability to understand.

But I have learned at least one thing in my life: I must not dare question the love of Someone Who made the ultimate sacrifice for me!

Although God is holy, righteous, and just, He is also love. Yes, our disobedience must be punished, or He would not be God; yet He made a way for us to escape Hell. Therefore, I say God’s love should never be questioned because He sent His only Son to take our place.

That is why I love Romans 5:7–8 so much. Rarely does someone die in the place of a good person, let alone for one who is guilty. But God demonstrated how much He loved us by dying in our place when we were guilty, undeserving sinners.

Now you might be saying about now, I am not that bad. I am surely better than most! The question is not, are we better than most but, are we completely free of sin? The Bible says no: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23)

People ask me, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” My response, although Biblical, is not often kindly accepted. “First of all, there really are no such things as good people. We all have fallen short of God’s perfection.”

Think of it this way: if Heaven is perfect, how could a perfect and holy God allow even one sin into a perfect place? Heaven would no longer be perfect.

That is why the Son of God left His glory in Heaven and came to this fallen Earth. He became a man (while fully God), lived a perfect life of 33 years, and yet was nailed to a cross as a sinner, even though He had not sinned. (John 3:16, John 15:13) What amazing love He demonstrated for us!

Romans 8:31–39 reminds us that if God did not spare His own Son, Jesus, but allowed Him to die in our place, how will He not take care of us? That passage continues and reminds us that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Not angels, neither government or rulers, nor trials or persecution can separate us from His love. Nothing present, nothing in the future, not death, not even life itself, or the things we face in this life!

Therefore, I have come to the wise conclusion never to question God’s love. I know, without a doubt, that He loves me. Therefore, I can know that the trials and trouble I face, while sometimes seeming insurmountable, are filtered through His loving hands.

When we remember the love God has for us, like Job, we too can say, ...the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. (Job 1:21)

This devotional was based on Jim Scudder's book, Why Life Hurts.

Get your copy today for a more in-depth look at God's love and strength during the hard times in life.