Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

October 26th, 2026
by Pastor Stu

Real Answers to Tough Questions

Class 7: Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

Redemption Hills Church - Adult Sunday School

Pastor Stu • October 25, 2026

Why do bad things happen to good people? We ask it when a faithful friend gets the hard diagnosis, or when the wicked seem to prosper. Underneath is a more personal question: if God is good and all-powerful, why does He allow this? The Bible doesn't explain every tragedy. But it gives us something better. Even when we can't explain what God is doing, we can trust who God is.

Are there really any good people? Romans 3:10-12 says, "There is none righteous, no, not one." And Romans 3:23 tells us all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. A neighbor risks his life for a stranger. That's genuinely good. But even our best doesn't put God in our debt. The Christian life isn't a transaction: good behavior in, easy life out. It's grace. Genesis 1 tells us God made everything good, even "very good" (Genesis 1:31). But in Genesis 3 sin broke in, and we all live in that fallen world.

Nothing falls outside His providence. "Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases" (Psalm 115:3). Does that mean God approves of evil? No. Look at Joseph. His brothers sold him into slavery. Later he told them, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20). He didn't call their cruelty good. But God worked through those same events to save many lives, including theirs. That's Romans 8:28. Sovereignty doesn't call evil good. It tells us evil can't win.

There is mystery in God's purposes. Here we need humility. "The secret things belong to the LORD our God" (Deuteronomy 29:29). When God finally answered Job out of the whirlwind (Job 38-42), He didn't hand Job the reasons. He showed Job Himself. What we do know: God uses suffering to form us. Suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope (Romans 5:3-5). Not automatically. Pain can harden us, too. But we never suffer beyond the reach of His grace, and the Spirit helps us in our weakness (Romans 8:26).

Suffering is not always punishment. Yes, God disciplines His children because He loves them (Hebrews 12:5-11). Sometimes we reap what we sow. But Job's story shatters the idea that great suffering means great sin. Jesus rejected that idea with the man born blind in John 9, and again in Luke 13. Self-examination is healthy; self-condemnation isn't.

God's answer to suffering is a person, Jesus Christ. At the cross we see how deep God's love goes. Our High Priest sympathizes with our weakness (Hebrews 4:15). Paul asks, "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32). When you can't see God's love, look to Calvary. Then look at the empty tomb. Christ rose as the firstfruits (1 Corinthians 15:20). Suffering and death don't get the last word.

How should we respond when suffering comes? Grieve honestly. Jesus wept at Lazarus's tomb (John 11:35), and the psalmist cried, "How long, O LORD?" (Psalm 13). Refuse simplistic explanations like "God needed another angel." Sometimes the faithful answer is, "I don't know why this happened, but I'll walk with you through it." Pray, even when it's hard. Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, "Not as I will, but as you will" (Matthew 26:39). Seek help without shame; God works through doctors and counselors. And keep hoping, because Christian hope rests on God's promises.

God is making all things new. We want justice now, in our lifetime: the innocent vindicated, the broken restored, the wicked held accountable. But this life isn't the whole story. Revelation 21:1-4 promises a new heaven and a new earth. Revelation 21:4 says He will wipe away every tear. The final answer isn't that everything will make sense. It's that everything will be made right. So we trust that God is still sovereign, Christ is still sufficient, and the Spirit is still present. Friends, suffering is real, but it isn't ultimate. Death is an enemy, but it's a defeated enemy. And because Christ is risen, the best is yet to come.

To the Glory of God, Pastor Stu. Please remember to come to next week's class if you are not volunteering.