Why do bad things happen?

I was teaching from Genesis today and something really struck me. In the Garden of Eden the serpent’s reason for tempting man would seem to be to take from him the dominion over the earth given to man by God. Through the fall of man, the devil became “prince and god of this world”.

1 John 5:19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

What really struck me about that is: so often people say after a tragedy, “Where was God?” “Why did He allow that to happen?”

But of course while the devil is the prince and god of this world it IS going to be filled with violence and evil.

But not forever!

Revelation 19:1-10 After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, 2 for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

3 And again they shouted: “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”

4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried: “Amen, Hallelujah!”

5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both great and small!”

6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)

9 Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

10 At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”

One day we will stand in God’s throne room and see how it all worked and praise Him with all of our hearts and souls and mind!

Some Background to Habakkuk

One of your children tells you, “It’s not fair!” because someone in their class gets away with everything. Your spouse gets passed over at work by someone who lies, brown noses and doesn’t even do a good job. You’re standing at a bus stop in Israel and a man walks up and blows himself and 10 other people up. A drive by shooting kills a 5 year old watching cartoons.

It’s the age-old question, “Why do all these bad things happen?” and “Why do they happen to good people?”

Habakkuk, who was both a prophet and a poet, was troubled by the evil in the world and he sought answers. His name itself means “to embrace” or “wrestle”. And he’s wrestling with a difficult issue. “Why is there evil in the world?” “Why do the wicked seem to be winning?”

Habakkuk was a contemporary of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. And there was much to weep about. There was major upheaval in the world. He lived in Judah during the reign of Jehoiakim between the fall of Nineva (the capital of Assyria) in 612 BC and the Babylonian invasion in 588 BC.

The last 4 kings of Judah had been wicked men who neglected God and oppressed their own people. About 15 years before Habakkuk wrote this book, Jeremiah wrote that God intended to punish the people. That they were wicked and had turned from God.

Now, 15 years later, Habakkuk is crying out, “Where is the God who promised to punish the evil in this land?”

He must have been praying a long time because he says, “How long will I call for help and You will not hear?” So it seems like an unanswered prayer. But, most unanswered prayers are really answering, “wait” aren’t they?

This time as Habakkuk asks his questions of God, God answers. And the questions and answers are recorded in this book. God tells Habakkuk to watch and be utterly amazed because He will do something so astounding people won’t believe it.

And we’ll see that what He does is even more troubling then the original evil Habakkuk saw. God lets the Chaldeans (or Babylonians) punish the Hebrews by taking them into captivity.

It happened. And it was brutal. Many people died in the process. And they were in captivity a long time. God’s solution didn’t make sense or seem fair. At least Judah was God’s people! Why would God use a nation even more corrupt then Judah to punish Judah…some people think America was punished on 911 by really bad people…and we’re going to see parallels in this book over the next few posts.