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Well, no one is arguing with me, which either means I’m on the right track or no one is reading… At any rate, I’m going to argue with myself a bit… and compare God with the roadrunner (meep! meep!)

In the first article in this little series (this being the third), I began the subject of ‘why do bad things happen to good people’ by speaking of the recent death of Jim Shaw.  I then went on to say that something like this is most certainly not a part of God’s plan.  I meant that, and I believe that, but I would like to now append a caveat. 

I was looking at some of my brethrens’ blogs on a popular social blogging site and ran across the site of a family member of brother shaw’s.  In a post speaking of the tragedy, she had posted the lyrics of a song which says “… and it surely is a part of God’s great plan.”   Well, that seems to go right against what I said earlier, but in reality it does not.  I believe that both statements are true, so stick with me and I’ll attempt to explain how this seeming contradiction coexists.

Here is the first statement that I believe is fact:

God is good (psalm 100:5) and loves decency and order (1 Cor 14:40). 

And here is the second:

Murder is not good (Exo. 20:13; Rev. 21:8; etc.).  

If God is good and murder is not, then God cannot use murder as part of His plan.  (Note:  Murder is separate and apart from the death penalty, as these are not murdered out of any sinful intent, but are ‘deserving of death’ due to civil crimes, see Acts 25:11; Romans 13:4)

Now here is the third statement that I believe does make this part of God’s plan. 

God is there to help us work things out that He did not have in store for us.  Let’s look at Romans 8:28:

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

To me, this little verse sums up what God is all about.  He wants and desires good for us… However there is a great swarm of chaos, disorder and evil in this world (the leviathan! see the two prior parts of this series…) led by the Devil who ‘walks about seeking whom he may devour’ (1 Peter 5:8).  God cannot shelter us from this great beast at all times, for the leviathan is made up of folks like you and me, free agents who can choose meekness or murder at our own discretion and whim.  So where is God when the leviathan strikes?  When murder takes a loved one or a drunk driver paralyzes a healthy young person?  He is there, and He is just as angry about it as we are and He is ready to help.  He is ready to begin mending the rip in the fabric of our lives and push us ahead in His plan for us to have goodness and decency in our lives. 

David saw Him there, even when David was immersed in the deepest, murkiest shadow.  This is the great theme of the beautiful and oft quoted, Psalm 23.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me…   Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.” (psalms 23:4,6)

So it is not God’s desire for us to go through torment and grief and anguish and heartache, but He knows that in a world filled with humans able to choose evil, its going to happen.  But God does not abandon us in these times, he is right there, he follows us through the shadow.  “Goodness and mercy shall follow me,” says David.  While evil may touch us for a time, God is following close behind to lend a hand, to restore goodness, and to get us back on track. 

I love the idea that God is working out everything for my good (according to Rom 8:28).  Evil comes in, takes me down a notch, but it can’t keep me down, because somehow, God is working to make sure that that little glitch ends up working towards my good.  It is almost laughable that the Devil, the Leviathan, the evil mindset of man, whatever it is cannot truly keep us down.  He tried to get Job down, but Job’s latter end was better than ever! (Job 42:12).  He tried to take Jesus down, but while he succeeded in bruising Jesus’ heel, Jesus bruised the Devil’s head (Gen 3:15)!  It’s almost like watching Wile E. Coyote trying to annihilate the roadrunner time and time again and being outwitted at every turn.

God is working it out for your good folks!  Whatever your trial is, don’t give up, God isn’t punishing you, He is there to help you… but you have to do your part too!   What was Job’s first step for recovering from a depth of loss and pain that we can scarcely imagine?    “Gird up now thy loins like a man,” says the KJV or, “Now prepare yourself like a man,” in the NKJV.   To paraphrase in the modern JW translation, “Job, its time for you to get up, stop being a wuss, and face this thing head on!”

Are we ready to do that?  It is easy to blame God, go into an eternal deppression, and end up losing our everlasting soul.  Endgame:  Satan +1.  It is MUCH harder to snap out of the feeling-sorry-for-ourself-ness (allowing for a reasonable amount of grieving and recovery of course), get back up, and face the world and wait for God to lead us back into the good life. In this scenario, however, the endgame is much more pleasant:  An eternity of good with an unbreachable gulf betwixt you and anything that could possibly cause you sorrow.

So:  Evil - NOT God’s plan…  Getting you back on track afterwards - God’s plan

Know that if you’re out there suffering right now, stop blaming God and ask Him to help.  Tell Him you want His goodness in your life again and you’re willing to do your part to get up and get out there and find some good as well.  If you trust in God and WAIT for His plan to come through… things are gonna get easier.  Cause the ‘latter end’ for those who love God…  Its all good.

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