“If God Is Good…”

“…then why does he allow bad things to happen?”

That is the question of the ages – particularly on the minds of those who are new in their walk with Christ, and Christians who have experienced challenges in their faith walk. Truth be told, many of us have thought about that at least once (even if the words never crossed your lips).

The blogger Bob Hanks introduced me (via youtube) to Dr. Voddie Baucham, my newest favorite bible teacher/preacher. I know I’m a bit late in learning about this awesome teacher, but better late than never, right?

Anyway, the video below is a 5 minute clip of Dr. Baucham’s address at the 2006 “Desiring God” conference:

“If God Is So Powerful & So Good…”

I love how Dr. Baucham turns the question around! As is our propencity as fallen creatures, we tend to schew life’s circumstances to the “how does this affect me” perspective – when in reality our Kingdom paradigm should be “how does God get glory out of my circumstance?”

In the age of “gimme gimme gimme”, true Blood-bought believers who ascribe to foundationally sound historical biblical doctrine must continue to encourage the sheep to turn their eyes towards God and His Righteousness and away from us and our desire to be “like Him” (the flawed “little gods” theory).

Instead of asking God “why do you allow (fill in the blank) to happen?”, we should remember how we are seen apart from the Blood of Christ that atoned for our filthy flesh:

Romans 3:10-18 (New American Standard Bible)

10as it is written,
         “^(A)THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
    11THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,
         THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
    12ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;
         THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD,
         THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
    13“^(B)THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE,
         WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,”
         “^(C)THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”;
    14“^(D)WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”;
    15“^(E)THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD,
    16DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS,
    17AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.”
    18“^(F)THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”

Thanks be to God our Father that He (in His omniscience and sovereignty) prescribed a solution long before the symptoms of our sin were ever manifested:

Romans 5:8 (New American Standard Bible)

8But God ^(A)demonstrates ^(B)His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, ^(C)Christ died for us.

Whenever calamity comes, let’s pray for God’s peace and that His will be done

Oh, and let’s remember to thank Him for not killing us in our sleep because of our wretched sin that doesn’t allow us to even come within spitting distance of Him apart from the propitiation delivered by the death, burial, and resurrection of His Begotten Son.