Bad things happen

So, if I am correct and God really is looking after us, how come bad things happen? I think there are three reasons for terrible things happening:-

 1. I know it's a bit of a cliche, but God really does move in mysterious ways. I have already said in an earlier blog that we can't hope to understand God. We certainly can't hope to understand His reasons for doing or not doing something or other. Sometimes what seems to be a bad thing turns out to be a blessing in disguise. For example, the prisoner who, with time on his hands, comes to appreciate his family on the outside, previously neglected.

 2. Our free will can make things go wrong. God gave us free will, it would be illogical if, having done so, He chose to control our every move. We make mistakes and bad things arise as a consequence.

 3. Lastly there is what I referred to previously as the forces of darkness. I am talking about the devil. I believe that when cast from heaven the devil ended up here. Did God give the devil "ownership" of earth and everything on it? Some people believe so. The devil was able to offer Jesus the world if he would renounce God and worship the devil instead. That would make no sence unless the devil had the power follow through on his offer. He has power on earth. Why would God do such a thing? God felt compassion for the devil, I guess. Also God has faith in us, that we will use the free will he gave us to ignore the temptation placed before us by the devil. Sometimes we do, often we do not. Bad things happen because the devil wants them to. And when they do how do we react? Often by saying "there can't be a God or such a horrible thing would not have happened"! In truth organised religion, which often teaches that God is all powerful, that nothing ever happens which is not His will, plays into the devils hands on this. They don't call him master of lies for nothing.

So I reckon that these are the three reasons that bad things happen. When they do, God, I believe mitigates, He makes a bad situation bearable, He gives us release if we simply can't stand it any more. I will blog some more on that another time.

Meantime, trust in God, even when terrible things happen, He is with us and we can count on him even if sometimes we can't understand what is going on!

Thanks for reading.