7. 7
All these pictures would make most of
us ask these questions
• Why does God allow good things to
happen to bad people?
• Why does God allow birth defects?
• Why does God allow natural disasters?
8. 8
Or this one question
Why does God allow bad things to happen
to Good people?
9. 9
As a Child of God, how do we handle this question? Before
handling this question with people of various faith, do we have
an understanding of this question?
When we face trials and tribulations in our life, how do we
handle it? Let us analyze it.
10. 10
Intent is prior to Content
We have to understand that…
People ask questions
1. To really know the answer
2. To get into an argument to fuel their egos.
• So if we know that their intent is to really find answers, then we ought to
listen to them and answer them with humility by sharing the content that we
know. But if they are in an argumentative mode, it is better to keep quiet and
answer them in very few words (filled with God’s wisdom)
• Hence Intent is always prior to Content
11. 11
The question we have is
Why does God allow bad things to happen
to Good people?
12. 12
But the Bible says
Romans 3:23 - …All have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God
So the question invariably becomes wrong. But still let us see
why bad things happen to people and when such bad things
happen, how we ought to react to it.
13. 13
• King David cries out to God in Psalm 73
• Job cries out to God through out the poetic book of
Job
Now look at this passage
• Romans 9:20-24 says that we are like the clay in a
potter’s hands.
God – Potter
We – clay
We are not alone. Even men in the Bible have asked this
question. Please see the following two points
14. 14
So Are we puppets in God’s hands?
• The answer is Yes! We are indeed puppets. But we ( as
a puppet) do not know whether God is going to use us
for a Noble purpose or a common purpose.
• When we try to answer questions by trying to place
ourselves in God’s shoes, we would never be able to
find the answer because His ways are not our ways
and His thoughts are not our thoughts.
15. 15
• Ecclesiastes 8:17 – Scientists will fail to
Understand God’s works
• Romans 11:33 – God’s wisdom cannot be
measured
• Deuteronomy 29:29 – Don’t try to probe
• Acts 1:7 – It is not right for man to know about
God’s time
But still
• Amos 3:7 –God reveals his secrets to his servants
Now look at the meaning of these following verses
The same God whose works cannot be even fathomed by scientists,
reveals his secrets to his servants- the prophets
17. 17
Joseph
• When he was a teenager, He was sold by his brothers as a slave
• He was then thrown into an unknown country –Egypt
• He was wrongly accused and was thrown into prison
• He was not recognized in the prison
• His sister was raped by Ungodly men
• Finally he lost his father also
Not even once in his life, Joseph asked the question, “ Why God Why”
Let us learn three important aspects that Joseph did. We could also adopt the
same three steps when we go through a bad phase in life
18. 18
1)Don’t bite the bait?
• Genesis 39: 9 - “ I would be sinning
against God”
When Joseph was seduced by his master’s
wife, he didn’t bite the bait. His answer is a
wonderful example that we could follow
He did not even want to fall into sin and
then cry out in guilt.
19. 19
The weeping poet Jeremiah questions God
in Jer 12:1-4 and asks the same question
1 You are always righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case
before you. Yet I would speak with you about your
justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all
the faithless live at ease?
2 You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow
and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their
hearts.
3 Yet you know me, O LORD; you see me and test my thoughts
about you. Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them
apart for the day of slaughter!
4 How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field
be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the
animals and birds have perished. Moreover, the people are
saying, "He will not see what happens to us."
20. 20
God was silent all this while and answered
him in Jeremiah 12:5
God's Answer
5 "If you have raced with men on foot and they
have worn you out, how can you compete with
horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will
you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?
If you can’t live with men on earth, how can you
survive in heaven?
21. 21
Before we ask the question of evil around
us, have we asked the question to
ourselves to find out how evil we are?
22. 22
2. Triumph in suffering rather than
fall into self pity
• Gen 50 :20
You intended to harm me, but God
intended it for good to accomplish what is
now being done, the saving of many lives
Joseph’s answer to his brothers baffles me all the time. His
brothers cheated him all his life. But still he never fell into a
web of self pity. Instead he triumphed in suffering
23. 23
Nick Vujicic
He has no arms and no legs. He did not cry and fall
into self pity. But he has triumphed in suffering by the
Grace of God. Check his 2 minute speech by clicking
this [link]
24. 24
We can live in self pity or we can
triumph in suffering
25. 25
3. Savor the peace in your heart
and don’t try to take revenge
•Is there any person in your life whom
you have not forgiven?
•Unforgiving nature is anger against
God
26. 26
And when you depict the fruits of
the spirit of God
• Genesis 41:38 - So Pharaoh asked them,
"Can we find anyone like this man, one in
whom is the spirit of God?"
Unbelievers will testify for us
27. 27
1) Don’t bite the bait?
2) Triumph in suffering rather than fall into
self pity
3) Savor the peace in your heart and don’t
try to take revenge
So
28. 28
Let us Reason
If you want to share anything regarding this
presentation, please write to me at
prason@chronicwriter.com
The author comes from a very small town in the southern most part of India.
He had a good education and he was brought up in Christian faith. But he
went with the ways of the world in his late teens and fell for all the vices. Still
God chose him; broke him and molded him and has made him a steward for
him.