WHY Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?

Written By Mark Avery

Selected Scriptures

Connect:

  • Share how you have seen God in the Highs and Lows of your week.

Prayer:

Pray that God would lead your discussion time and bring fresh insight, conviction, and hope through your time together.

Review:

This message series looks at 3 of the critical and core questions that we ask of God about the life and world we have. We will look at those questions from a grounded Biblical perspective and discuss how we can approach these questions with a sense of honor, acknowledging God as God, as well as sincerity seeking to understand what we can this side of Heaven. This week we looked at the question of “Why do bad things happen to good people"?”…

The Grand Tour of the message: Thinking back on what you heard this Sunday…

o What did you learn about God?

o What did you learn about people?

o What did you learn about yourself?

o What do you want to commit to putting into practice?

Reflection:

Personal Experience:

  • If you could ask God one question, what would it be?

  • Describe a time in your life where you sincerely asked God “WHY?” What was happening, and how did God meet you in that situation?

  • Reflective Discussion (Remember to look at the context of the verses as you are reading!):

    • Scripture talks about the Father heart of God. Read the following Scriptures and discuss what difference does it make in our suffering to know that God is with us, for us? (Mat 7:7-11, Phil 4:6-7, Rom 8:15-16, Ps 139:1-10, Ps 68:1,2, 1 Pet 5:7, Is 40:27-31).

    • There are always going to be mysteries when it comes to our questions about God and His ways. :Read the following passages and discuss how they help us to trust a personal, Self-revealing God even when we don’t understand all of His ways (Is 55:8-9, Rom 11:33-36, Ps 131:1-3, Deut 29:29, Prov 25:2, Job 38:1-11).

    • The question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”, we need to be mindful of 2 things behind that question. Use the following Scriptures to discuss the following questions:

      • Who is “good”? (Is 64:6, Ps 14:1-3, Rom 3:10-12, Rom 3:23,24, Luke 18:9-14, Eph 2:1-10, Mark 10:17,18)

      • Who is God? (Job 40:1-8, James 1:5-8, Rom 11:33-36, Rev 1:12-18, Rev 4:8-11)

    • Pastor Ben offered 5 reasons for suffering in the world as we all experience it. How does this help us in wrestling with this question of why bad things happen to good people?

      • We live in a fallen world (Gen 3:16-19)

      • We face the consequences of our actions (Gal 6:7-8)

      • Others make choices that affect us (2 Pet 3:9)

      • Spiritual attack (Eph 6:12)

      • God’s positioning us for His purposes beyond us (John 9:1-7)

Application: 

Are we willing to endure suffering for the purposes of God in and beyond our own experience in this life?

Prayer:

Spend some time in prayer thanking God for His presence in a broken world, and pray for the strength to endure, the courage to sacrifice for others and the joy of knowing that what is done in His strength brings Him glory!

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Mark Avery
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