Bad things happen to Good People

Some how, we believe that when people are good their path in life is one of ease and comfort. We equate blessings with prosperity, ease and health. We see suffering as a result of our own sins or the sins of our forefathers.

When we face suffering we often wonder “What did I ever do to deserve this?” Some times it can bring us such frustration and despair to see how we are afflicted while others “less deserving than us” prosper.

The first thing we must realize is that we are all sinners and undeserving of God’s love. Yet, when we were enemies of God, Chirst came and died for us.

Romans 3:23 (NASB)
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 3:10-18 (NKJV)
As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;

Romans 5:8 (KJV)
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

None of us is more deserving of anything.   In fact, we are only good because God has saves us and cleansed us from sin. Nothing in us makes us worthy of anything.

And yes, bad things happen to good people.

In fact, when we choose to follow God, more persecutions and trials come out way. The fact is that Satan doesn’t want us to have a saving relationshinp with God. He doesn’t want to see us get to heaven. So he hurls all manner of evil at us, trying to get us to let go of God.

Job was a good man. There was no one on earth like him and that made Satan mad.

“Job is only serving You for blessings. If he wasn’t proceed or blessed he wouldn’t be serving You.”

God told Satan that he could afflict Job.

Job 1:12 (NASB)
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.

Terible calamities came to Job and the hand of Satan yet Job did not sin.

Again Satan returned to God and told Him that Job would certainly sin if he became ill. Once again Satan was permitted to afflict Job.

Job 2:7 (NASB)
Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

Despite all of this Job did not sin.

Like Job, bad things happen to a God’s people at the hand of Satan. When we are facing our trials and afflictions let us remember the story of Job.

It wasn’t God that caused Job’s sufferings and it also isn’t God that causes our sufferings. God gives us good things because He is love and love doesn’t hurt.

Let us cling to the hope that one day soon there will be no more suffering because sin and all of its results will be no more.

Blessed When We Pray for Others

The book of Job tells the story of Job’s suffering at the hand of Satan. Job lost everything- ALL of his possessions, ALL of his children and then he became ill.

Job’s friends came to visit him and they accused him of being a great sinner and this was the reason why he had gotten punished. But Job maintained that he had not done anything wrong.

Then in chapter 42, the bible tells us something important:

Job prayed for his friends.

Can you imagine that in the midst of his tremendous suffering, he thought of others and prayed for them?

What a tremendous heart of love Job had! He still longed for his friends to know and feel God’s love and to be protected. He had their physical and spiritual well-being in mind even though he was suffering.

He prayed for them.

When he turned his eyes from his suffering and prayed for them, he was blessed.

Suffering comes to us all. Satan knows that when we turn our eyes to ourself we miss the blessings that God has in store for us. But when we turn our eyes to God and work in His service we are blessed.

God has Heard

We live in a sinful world. Pain, suffering and sickness will come. As we face our own trials and afflictions at times we might feel all alone and forsaken. But even if no human will or can help us, God is with us.

God hears us.

When we are sad, lonely or depressed He hears and is with us. God never leaves us. He hears our cries, He feels our pain, He knows or sorrows and He will take them away.

Cheer up ye pilgrim! This suffering that we endure is only for a short time, but oh what joy awaits us for all eternity!

Camping Trip

Recently, our family went on a camping trip. I thought that it was going to be a horrible experience. I did get sick, the tent did leak, I was exhausted, the children slept poorly, one of the air beds deflated the first night and we slept on the hard ground, the other air bed got soaked (from a little person).

But I got a huge blessing from going camping!

The blog has been quiet for a while now because I had been struggling with feeling a lack of contentment, I couldn’t write about anything.

I reluctantly went camping. I even left during the trip because I just was not enjoying being there. I was tired, sick and frustrated.

Then, I got a blessing.

Funny how things happen. God indeed is a marvelous God!

Questions that have plagued my heart have been answered and I have a new direction for homeschool.

Thank You Lord for this camp experience!

Here are a few pictures of what we saw on a walk we took.

 

Private Time? What is this thing you speak of?

This is how I know that I am in need of some private time- a picture drawn by my 4 year old.

The person to the right is my daughter. I am the bigger one to the left. I asked what the picture was about. Her response,

“That is you urinating and me in the bathroom with you.”

Enough said.