bad things to good people

 

Today we read from Job 8:1-11:20 in the One Year Bible. Bildad the Shuhite is trying to give Job good advice. And I mean, it's not bad. He's wrong, but he's wrong in the way that most people are wrong when they think about God and sin. He thinks that when things go wrong in our lives, it must mean that God is mad at us. Right? I mean, it's easy to think that. God is all powerful and all knowing. So if things are bad in my life, He either MADE them bad or He at least ALLOWED them to be bad. And why would He do that unless He was mad at me for doing something wrong?

You may have found yourself thinking this very thing. That God must be mad at you because things are not so good in your life. But we find out, as we continue to read Job, that that isn't the case. It's not that Job committed some terrible sin. God wasn't mad at him and so He killed all of his kids and took away all of his wealth, and even took his health.

In Job's case, you might say that God was testing Job. The story definitely seems to tell us that. That Satan attacked him to see if he would keep his faith or if he would "curse God and die". Job, our hero, kept his faith.

And the "theodicy", which is what this problem is called, gets an answer of sorts. The theodicy, simply put, is one of the most basic, and most convincing, arguments against God's existence. If God is all powerful, and all knowing, and all good... how do bad things happen to good people? Why doesn't God prevent them, if He 1. can 2. knows what's happening 3. is all good? Some people would say it's because He doesn't exist.

But God gives us a better answer in the book of Job. We'll get to it this week. In the meantime, let's stick to Job's side and keep our faith in God. When the time comes, we'll get our answer.

God, thanks for showing us the theodicy - and Your answer to it.