Kay Arthur - When Bad Things Happen: God Is Big Enough to Handle Your Questions... and Strong Enough to Deliver You from Pain and Doubt

Its hard today to look at the chaos, at the tragedies, at the broken relationships, families, and livesat the seeming triumph of evil menand explain how God, if He is who He says He is, could allow these things. The question comes to mind, Why doesnt He intervene, if Hes God?

If this is not your question, it certainly is the question of multitudes. Is there an answer? Is there an answer to the pain, the disappointment, the heartache, the death sentence you and countless others are facing? Yes, beloved, there is an answeran answer you can stake your life on. You will find it in this book because it will take you to the Book of books, the Bible where God has the answers for every circumstance of life. This is why God has this book in your hands right now. He wants you to know and understand that Hes there when bad things happen. Read on

When you look at your circumstances and wonder,
God, where are You?

Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law.

P SALM 119:18

Has there ever been a time when you questioned God?

Possibly you found yourself in a trial you never dreamed would happen to you. Maybe you cried for help, and it seemed God didnt hear. You werent delivered. You suffered.

When you watch the evening news or pick up the newspaper, do you wonder, Where is God? If He is God and in charge of this universe, why does He allow the world to continue on its course of self-destruction? Why doesnt He put an end to all the cruel and bizarre things happening in our society?

Did something happen to a child of God that seemed so unjust, so evil that you doubted God? Did you wonder, Cant He at least take care of His own? Maybe you wouldnt allow yourself to verbalize such a question because it would seem unholy, but have you wondered, Where is God when bad things happen?

A friend of mine was raped. She had heard me tell stories of others in similar situations who had called on God and were delivered. So in the darkness of fear she, too, cried out to God. In a trembling voice she commanded the man to stop in the name of Jesus. He didnt. Why didnt God answer her cry and deliver her?

Where was God?

A twenty-year-old girl, a personal friend of ours, a Christian with a sterling reputation, was found brutally murdered in her bedroom.

Where was God?

Hitler exterminated Gods chosen peoplemen, women, and childrenin gas chambers and ovens.

Where was God?

In countries with oppressive political systems, countless Christians suffer greatly for their faith. Denied the freedom to worship openly, many have been cut off from their communities and forced to live on almost nothing, enduring the ravages of malnutrition, beatings, and hard labor. Others have been imprisoned and torturedeven murdered by government edictconsidered traitors simply because they placed their faith in Christ.

Where is God?

These are tough questions, arent they? Skeptics delight in asking these questions. They are questions many of us would prefer to ignore or bury under weak and insufficient theological theories.

Where is God when bad things happen?

Its a question that many who call Him Father want to avoid. It doesnt fit with their concept of God. They cant explain it from the Word.

Are we afraid to ask these questions for fear God will not have an answer? Or do we fear that if we find the answer, it will distort our view of God or make Him into someone we cannot explain or understand?

Some would have you believe that God, who is a God of love, mercy, and compassion, does not have a thing to do with the evil that takes place in this world. But if He doesnt then what does that imply about His power, His authority, His involvement in human affairs?

Are these new questions that, until now, have never troubled the heart of man? Oh no, my friend! They are as old as human history. They are the questions of Habakkuk, the prophet:

How long, O L ORD , will I call for help,

And You will not hear?

I cry out to You, Violence!

Yet You do not save.

Why do You make me see iniquity,

And cause me to look on wickedness?

Why do You look with favor

On those who deal treacherously?

Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up

Those more righteous than they?

(Habakkuk 1:2-3,13)

Where is God? Why does He allow such things? Why does evil continue? Why do the wicked prosper? Why do the righteous suffer? Why arent they delivered? Why doesnt God hear the prayers of His people? These questions are the burden of Habakkuks heart. He bears them without shame or apology. And rather than ignoring them, God has preserved these questions for all to read. His answer to Habakkuk is also His answer to us.

Stop and read through the book of Habakkuk. Its only three chapters long. Before you begin reading, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you into the truth. We cannot understand and discern spiritual truths apart from His work in our lives. We need to ask the Lord to give us a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the true knowledge of Him. We can be confident that He will answer because we have asked according to His will (1 John 5:14-15). Psalm 119:18 says, Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law.

Pause a few moments to confess to the Lord your inability to hear and discern truth apart from His enabling. Ask Him to enlighten the eyes of your heart so that you may truly know what He longs to show you. Thank Him that He will.

To appreciate the book of Habakkuk and how it parallels our day, we must consider its historical context. Not only will this perspective help you in grasping more of the meaning of the Old Testament, it will let you see how the truths of the Old Testament can be applied to our lives today! First Corinthians 10:11, in reference to Israel, says, Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for