Why do bad things happen to good people?

In short, technically speaking the biblical answer is there are no “good” people.

The Bible makes it abundantly clear that all of us are tainted by and infected with sin. (Romans 3:12) says: “They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” Thus, in one sense every human being on this planet deserves to be thrown into hell at this very moment. Every second we spend alive is only by the grace and mercy of God. But in another sense there clearly are outwardly nice people who do good things and try to keep sin to a minimum. And here is the rub even nice people still sin and based on God’s definition of sin it is a lot. And because of the sin in us and the sin in the world our entire civilization has gone haywire – and even seemingly good people suffer the many far reaching effects of sin. Disease, accidents and the effects of being involved in a crime are just three examples of how relatively good people can suffer as an outgrowth of sin.                                     

Another reason God can allow bad things to happen to good people is to teach them lessons they might not learn any other way, to discipline them, to improve their character, and to encourage them to depend on him more. It is important to remember that God didn’t put us on planet Earth after the Fall so we would live in total comfort but that our time here would be spent in training and preparation for eternity – and the so called bad things that happen to us can turn out in the economy of God to bring about good results in our lives.

Finally, where do we draw the line in asking God to stop bad things from happening to good people? Just how good must a person be in order to be saved from bad things?  Or, what level of bad do we want God to stop at?  And what about the times when a bad thing can lead to a good thing? God often allows current suffering for a future good. For example, at the crucifixion of Jesus we see how the very worst thing in history resulted in the very best thing in history. Sometimes we just have to trust God and lean not on our own understanding.