Pastor Dan Eddy
1 Kings 17:17-24
Why God allows
bad things to happen
6-6-10
I.
Introduction…3 bad situations
Fisherman Tom
Young of Plaguemines Parish in Louisana feels his way of life is over. His
business is affected by the massive oil spill in the Gulf. “It’s the end, the apocalypse,” he told CBS News, “and no one outside of these few parishes
really cares.”
Dr. Michael
Johnson, a local physician and Rotary Club member, recently had his sister
visit from out of town. She was accidently hit by a car near the St. Mary’s
crosswalk in downtown
Member Eric Foote
has been struggling the past few months trying to find out why he keeps spiking
fevers as high as 104 degrees and has little energy to do much of anything.
Test after test, doctor after doctor have not yet
revealed the cause of his illness.
Why does God allow these bad things to
happen? Not a terribly
original question, yet one that is often asked. And this morning’s text from 1
Kings 17 may offer us an answer to help us better understand why we face
unbelievable struggles in our lives today.
II.
Answer #1...He doesn’t really exist or have
total control over this world
(Put up graphic #1) Some may say God allows these bad things
to happen because He doesn’t exist or
have total control over this world.
Milt Thompson was
telling me his son showed him the following from an on-line atheist website: “If God is willing to prevent evil, but not
able, then He isn’t omnipotent. If He is able, but not
willing, then whence cometh evil. If He is able and willing then He is
marvelous.”
Now on one level that sounds logical. If God
is all He said He is then evil should never exist. Or if it does, (pound fist on the pulpit) He should do
something about it.
There’s one
problem with this reasoning. We, as finite human beings, think we fully understand
what terms like omnipotent and God’s will really mean. But, the finite doesn’t fully
understand the Infinite.
And the
assumption can be dangerous, because if I think I understand everything about
God, or at least know enough to draw my own conclusions, then I risk
re-creating Him in my own image, by my own expectations, to disappoint me so I
can turn away from Him and maybe seek other gods.
This was the
problem for the Israelites of Elijah’s day. God’s Chosen People were not happy
with the answers the Lord was giving them, the blessings they thought they were
entitled to, so they sought after other gods…all false because He is the only
true One.
So God punished
them by sending a famine over the whole region. They didn’t repent so He sent
His prophet Elijah to a poor gentile
widow. And through the poorest of the poor, the Lord made sure to show His
greatness. She and her son were down to their last meal, but they
never ran out of food.
God does have total control over His
creation, but He’s not going to force you or anyone else to do the right thing.
God is willing to work through you to prevent evil. He will make you able and
willing to help others, if you want. Evil is not something He creates but
allows, just like He did with Adam and Eve.
But the problem
is we all play a role in creating an evil world. Evil not only happens outside
of us but is in us as well. We were conceived in sin according to Psalm 51:5. We
have no idea how our actions can have ripple effects on evil in our world. We
don’t know the full impact of the words we speak in haste and harshness to
others. Think about how you remember someone else’s words or actions and how
they have adversely affected you years after they happened.
III.
Answer #2 – I must have done something
wrong, therefore God is punishing me
(Put up graphic #2) So if we realize that we do sin, then the
next logical answer to why does God allow bad things to happen might be: “I must have done something wrong, therefore
God is punishing me. After all isn’t that what you just said happened to the Israelites?”
If you believe
this, then you are in good company, because that’s what the widow woman thought
in verse 18 when she said to Elijah: “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to
remind me of my sin and kill my son?"
This gentile
widow was a believer in the One Lord God…not the false Baal gods. This woman
had already lost her husband, her means of income, was ready to prepare her
last meal and die. But she was rescued by Elijah with a miracle…only to watch
her son’s health steadily decline only to end up dead. It’s natural for her as
a parent to think she must have done something wrong.
Now don’t get me
wrong, God did cause his death, and He can allow bad things to happen because
of something we’ve done wrong. But, here’s the problem: If God wanted to punish
us based on our actions…our lives would be a whole lot more horrible. Psalm
103:10 (NIV): “He (God) does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us
according to our iniquities.” Even when we are bad, the Lord still shows us undeserved grace and
mercy.
We live in a
sin-fallen world, and part of living in on imperfect planet is people die
un-expectantly in auto accidents, businesses close because of factors beyond
their control, and people get illnesses you can’t find the cause of.
But I don’t want
you to leave here today thinking the answer to this question is a hopeless one.
Far from it.
(Put up graphic #3)
IV.
Answer #3 – Jesus loves me so much He
wants my faith in Him strengthened
Why does God allow bad things to happen? Very simply, Jesus loves you so much He wants your faith in Him strengthened.
By that love, He
will draw you closer to Him, so you can see His goodness, His forgiveness, and
His power over death.
Imagine you lived
in a world where you got everything you wanted, the way you wanted it, when you
wanted it. Honestly, how much attention
would you pay to God? How much credit would go to Christ Jesus for your
blessings? How often would you ask the Holy Spirit to help you help others? How
close of a relationship would you have to the Lord? You might end up like the
spoiled Israelites and possibly fall away from the faith.
“But Pastor, God through Elijah brought
the widow’s son back to life. Where’s my miracle?” Why did God do this? To bring the woman to
faith…no she was already a believer. Because she wanted her son back? Not
necessarily. I’m sure there were many things she wanted from God that she never
received.
So why did God cause this widow’s son to die and then
cause him to come back to life? In verse 24 she speaks the answer to Elijah: "Now I know that you are a man of God
and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth."
The Lord wanted
the widow to know that at that moment in time Elijah was there representing God
as only the Lord would have him do. And that He was speaking the Lord’s truth,
and then there’s nothing greater to show God is God than to prove He has the
power over death.
Elijah was one of
many warm-up acts paving the way for God the Father’s main attraction when it
came to defeating sin, death and the Devil, our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. About 800 years later, Jesus
raised another widow’s son…except He didn’t have to carry him to an upper room,
spread his body over the dead one, and beg the Lord to bring him back to life.
No, Jesus merely tapped on the coffin and said, “Young man I say to you get up.”
Jesus has the
power over death as only God can. But He also allowed Himself to be put to
death in the vilest, disgusting, agonizing, and humiliating way possible. He
did it to save all of us who have ever committed evil acts, while at the same
time destroying Evil One himself for eternity. And yet after suffocating for
six hours, being emptied of all the blood in his body, and sitting in a tomb
rotting for three days…Jesus did something no other person has ever done. He raised
Himself from the dead.
Why did He do
that? So like the widow woman you can
say, "Now
I know that you are the Son of God and the Son of man and that Your Word of
Scripture is truth."
“Where’s
my miracle, Pastor?” (Point to the Cross) There’s your miracle whose effects for you will last for
eternity.
Jesus uses pastors
like me to baptize people like you so that when we say you received faith in this
miracle of power over death, forgiveness of sins and eternal life, so you can
respond: "Now
I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth
is the truth."
Christ will use
me in a few moments to speak His Word turning bread into also His body and the
fruit of the vine also into His blood so that when you receive them you can say
in faith, "Now
I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth
is the truth."
That way when bad
things happen in your life, you know, by faith, Christ Jesus is there to love
you by strengthening your faith in Him, so you can be closer to Him, to see His
goodness, and experience His forgiveness – the Truth of His Word.
Let me give you a
closing example to illustrate this:
David Meece is
one of many contemporary Christian music artists. He has had a string of hits
from the late 70s into the first part of the last decade. He won numerous
awards and is an accomplished pianist. He graduated from the famous Peabody
Conservatory of Music. He has a lovely wife, successful career. But one day
David was told his father died.
Now grieving the
death of a parent is bad enough, but David’s dad was evil. He was an alcoholic.
He was such a bad drunk that when David was young his dad plowed the car
through the front bedroom where he and his brother slept. They were not
physically injured, but the emotional scars ran deep. Especially when one day,
his father simply left home, abandoning the family.
When his dad
died, David was touring, promoting an album where one of hit songs was on
forgiveness. “70 times 7…will you Lord forgive me for all that I have done?” David left the
tour to attend his father’s funeral, but found when he returned the word of
forgiveness he sang rang hollow. He sought counseling. Months went by, the tour
continued, but the resentment of his father’s actions was still there.
Then one night after
a successful concert, he went back to his hotel room to watch TV, and something
triggered a memory of his awful father. But this time it wasn’t a vision of a full
grown drunk but his dad as a little boy…a little boy being beaten by his dad who himself was an alcoholic.
Then in a moment of unbelievable humility with tears rolling down his face, he found
that true healing began when he stopped thinking about himself first, and
thought about the hurts his dad experienced.
God allowed bad
things to happen to David so David could experience how much Jesus loves him,
so his faith could be strengthened to really know the truth of Christ’s
forgiveness.
By the way when I
heard David present that story in concert 20 years ago, God’s Word of truth he
expressed changed my life…I hope this sermon does that for you this morning.
God in Christ
Jesus bless you to experience His love through the bad things in your life so
you may be strengthened in faith to know His Word is truth. Amen.