Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?

I was stunned when Pastor JD broached this subject tonight.  Stunned because I've never heard it preached on quite like this before.  It was rough and hard to swallow but here goes my version...

He said that we've got it all wrong.  It's not "Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People" but "Why Do Good Things Happen to Bad People?"  Afterall, none of us are good, no not one.  Sin is not ranked therefore neither are we.  We are under a rightful curse, brought on by original sin, sin which we all participate in.  Yes, we all may try to do right and obey laws and such but we still sin against God.  The only reason more bad things do not happen to us is because of God's endless grace and mercy.  In Isaiah 26:9-10  it states, "When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.  But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the LORD."  So you see, we are all truly blessed, blessed to have Jesus to call upon in our time of trouble for He is our advocate and His blood covers those of us who have believed on Him.  Believe on Him now and see His grace and mercy active in your life.  There is hope for them that love Him.

God is faithful despite ourselves...

Pastor JD was awesome tonight, answering questions in the continuing saga of David's life.  We are at the end of David's life and David once again sins against God.  I was struck by how familiar this is to me as I fail God continually in my walk with Him too.  God's anger was kindled against David and he was given a choice of the nation's punishment.  Yes, the whole nation had fallen with David.  JD drew the analogy of how even though Adam cast the original sin, we fall into sin too and must be punished for it.  We suffer because of one man and because of one Man we are saved.  Unfortunately for the nation of Israel, punishment had to come and the angel of death came but God saw it and was grieved, seeing the future and His own Son's death He relented and had the angel cease.  Fortunately for us, Jesus already took our sin upon Himself and also took our punishment, our death even.  All we have to do is accept Him and His love for us and ask for His forgiveness of our sins.  JD states that the whole point of David's story is to point us to the Son, Jesus.  David's failures as a man, as a father, as a king are overshadowed by the coming of the Glorious One, King of Kings.  I'm glad that I know that God's mercy is better than man's and He will forgive me of my shortcomings and love me because of His Son.

Deserving God's Love

I was watching tv today and a man on there said his son had done nothing to deserve his love.  Immediately, I was captivated because we don't DESERVE God's love but because of Jesus what we get is His love and mercy and grace.  That's what it's all about, people.  We deserve the cross, the death, the torment.  But when we throw ourselves on the mercy of the Lord that is exactly what we get.  We can't earn it; we can only ask for it and know it is there for us.  Praise God; it is there for us!!!

The Pots of Mesopotamia

Somewhere in Mesopotamia there were pots that were made and then broken over a stone.  The pots were then remade with a glaze of gold sealing the pieces together, making the pots more valuable than before. 
This is how brokeness works with God.  He breaks us only to put us back together better than before!!

Relational Pain

Pastor JD continued our talks of David tonight with a sermon on David and Absalom.  Absalom and David had a broken relationship, broken because of the confusion of David's disengagement from his own family.  Tamar was Absalom's sister and was raped by her half-brother.  David did nothing.  He said nothing.  Absalom couldn't believe this giant-slayer let his half-brother get away with this transgression.  Absalom took in his sister and she lived with him despite her scorn.  Absalom plotted and killed the half-brother who raped his sister and David was incensed and would not speak to Absalom for five years.  So Absalom plotted to overthrow King David and slept with wives left behind at the palace when David fled in disgrace.  As David fled one of Saul's family members cast stones at him and threw dirt on him and cursed him.  David felt he had lost God's favor and didn't deserve anything better than this and didn't allow his servants to stop the man.  David regained his composure and fought back against Absalom but ordered that no harm be done unto his son; however, Absalom was hung by his hair in the battle as he fled and was stabbed to death.  David mourned the loss of Absalom crying out for his lost son in great agony. 
So why is this story in the Bible?  It is there to give us hope of the new King, the King who has stripped sin of its sting.  Relational pain is still there but God's grace can free you from the paralysis of guilt.  Jesus did for us, as His sons and daughters, what David could not do for his own children.  Jesus saves us; David could not save Absalom.  Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose."  This doesn't make anything that we go through easier to deal with or the consequences of our sin easier to accept but it does mean there is forgiveness for those who are in Christ Jesus and walk after Him. 

Go and Sin No More --- Psalm 51

Tonight's sermon continued the lesson of David's sin with Bathsheba but Pastor JD approached it from the standpoint of what David did after he sinned and was rebuked by Nathan the prophet.  I'd never heard it put quite like this and I was stunned with his words.

He started by listing the 4 typical responses when approached by our sin:
1.  Hide it or deny it
2.  Rationalize or explain it
3.  Blameshift
4.  Repent, just throw ourselves on the mercy of God.

He went on to describe what Gospel-centered repentance looks like:
1.  Its sole hope is the mercy of God.  Is God's mercy enough to get you to heaven?  It's the only thing that can.
2.  It owns that the sin we committed is deeply inherent.  We didn't have to train to become the depraved sinners that we are.  It is a natural thing.
3.  It is first directed toward God. 
    a.  David realized his sin begin as a sin against God.
    b.  God was the most significant one he sinned against.
4.  It cries out for the gospel.  It seeks the coming of Jesus and his redemption.
5.  It embraces the future redemption by the gospel.
6.  It responds to the gospel.

Pastor JD used the illustration of the adulterous woman who was brought before Jesus with a crowd ready to stone her and He wrote a message in the sand that caused the crowd to disband without harming the woman.  Jesus said "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more."  Her forgiveness was not based on her works but her works from then on would be based on His forgiveness.

Abounding in Love & Grace

Psalm 103:8-12 "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."

Thank goodness for this verse.  It epitomizes God's grace towards us.  We have nothing to fear because of Jesus' dying for our sins and taking our place before the Father.  Likewise, the Father was forgiving with David and Bathsheba in 2 Sam 11 & 12.  Their sin was sexual sin which easily finds its way in our lives when we are blessed or when we are struggling.  Odd, you say, that it finds its way in at both of these times but as Pastor JD explained tonight when we are blessed we tend to forget our dependence on God and when we are struggling we are searching for a substitute for God. 

In 2 Sam 11, David was truly blessed as King of Israel but he was also disengaged.  He sent forth his armies without him which was not normally the custom.  Being disengaged from God can happen to any of us if we are not heavenly minded and keeping our eyes on things above.  Avoid temptation.  David was seeking something other than God on top of the palace and found Bathsheba bathing.  Avoiding temptation is far easier than resisting sin.  JD reiterated this point time and again during the sermon.  Don't put yourself in tempting situations, situations where you may have fallen before, situations where you know your mate is weak, any situation that might cause you to sin.  Can you be forgiven?  Of course, there is never a sin that is too much for God to handle or forgive you for.  Not forgiving you would be requiring two payments for the same sin -- remember, Jesus has already paid the debt once and His mercy and grace won't permit 2 payments.  But repentance means trying to learn from your past failures and rise above the sin that plagues you and this world.

David fell to sexual sin and slept with Bathsheba and she conceived a child.  David then had her husband killed and married her and swept the whole thing under the carpet but God knew of the sin.  God was displeased but David sought the Lord and found His favor again.  God had not left David even though David had strayed and sinned.  There were consequences that had to be paid for David's sin.  That's life.  But God's forgiveness is everlasting and is available for each of us, no matter what we have done. 

So what can we draw from David's experience:
1.  Sin can destroy your life.  Repent and accept God's forgiveness.
2.  Be actively engaged in God's plans.  Healthy individuals are washed (clean), justified (safe) and sanctified (special).
3.  Flee temptation.  Just plain RUN!!!  Run Forrest Run!!!
4.  Be captivated by GOD'S beauty -- The way to overcome sexual sin is NOT by learning to love them LESS, it's learning to love God MORE!!!

I was challenged by JD's words.