My family uses a group text to talk to each other and send videos, pictures or gifs (something I'm quite proud of for my parents to have learned). Just the other day the chat had no words, only a string of gifs back and forth from all five of us. This morning my younger brother, Connor, sent a thirty minute youtube video, admittedly a little longer than our regular exchanges, but as I began to listen to it I found I couldn't stop.
In the video an older man stands beside a poster introducing the topic of the Bible, evangelizing to a group assembled around him, while a younger man fumes in the crowd. The younger man, an outspoken Atheist, argues his points eloquently, making the usual claims. One claim, in particular, stuck in my mind. If God is as good and just as we claim he is, why then do so many bad things happen to us, the people we love and around the world?
It's a good question to ask, especially if you're doubting God's existence. Asking this question points to the specific area that's causing you to stumble: trust.
If you believe God lets bad things happen to you because he doesn't love you, then it is only natural that you might have trouble trusting him with your heart. Bad things happen to us all, much to our dismay, but none of them happen because God wants us to experience the worst life has to offer.
He will allow you to experience bad things, as he allowed Job to experience in the Bible. Job went through many circumstances that make us shudder to think would happen to us. He lost everything, and yet his attitude never changed. His friends encouraged him to leave the God who was obviously causing this misfortune to befall him, but Job never wavered in his faith and in the knowledge that God is good. (By the way, God did not cause Job to experience these horrible things. He allowed Job to experience these things.)
God won't let you experience any bad thing and not eventually turn it into good for you if you are seeking him and trusting him with your heart and your life. It might take a few weeks, years, or even, decades to see the good I'm talking about, but don't doubt that God will use whatever it is you're going through right now for good. The good might look different for different people.
I can speak from my experience that the good is slow in coming about. It takes its time, as a seed takes a season to grow, so the good waits until its time has come. It might be subtle changes in your attitude toward someone or something. It might be something totally different. But you'll never truly experience the good God can work in your life through hard and bad experiences if you don't trust him.
I talk about it a lot, but that's because it's so important. If you don't trust the Lord, then you don't truly have faith in him. If someone gives you a parachute as you're about to jump out of a plane, believing it will save you from falling to your death will do you no good if you don't trust it by placing on your back. Trust God today in your circumstances. Trust that God's intentions are good for you. Trust that God loves you too much to see you hurting alone.
Take heart, friend.
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