And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose- Romans 8:28
God sees the big picture and knows the end just as he does the beginning, which gives him the ability to weave together an amazing story of “good” out of what we consider as “bad.”
The word “why” is one of the most frequently used by individuals of all ages and nationalities. But when something positive or convenient occurs, most people don’t question “why”; instead, they just accept it and carry on as if it were meant to be that way. Instead, the “why” questions we ask are typically accompanied by a frustrating, terrible, or even tragic event that we are attempting to make sense of.
Why do decent people sometimes experience awful things is a common question. In reality, during my life, I have personally witnessed or heard dozens of instances of this question or one very similar being asked.
And while asking “why” is not necessarily a bad thing to do (in fact, it is frequently the best question to ask because it puts us in a position to determine the cause of something), doing so when our primary motivation is a belief that whatever occurred should not have occurred or that we did not deserve what occurred can lead to problems.
This is particularly true for professing Christians who believe that because they are making an effort to follow God or at least practice some religious practices, God ought to react by allowing more positive events to occur than negative ones.
Will Following God Lead to Good Things?
We must analyze the question first before moving on to the solution. The query, “Does obeying God mean that good things will happen?” may present three issues.
First off, we often struggle to determine what is “good” or “bad” for us. For instance, a situation that we may initially view as “bad” because it was unfavorable or inconvenient (like losing a job) may actually turn out to be quite “good” for us (because it freed us up to find an even better job).
Second, all of us experience hardship, difficulty, and even tragedy in our lives because we live in a sinful, flawed world. In reality, we all deserve much more “evil” to happen to us than it does because we are sinful humans with sinful hearts living in that sinful, broken world.
Because of our sins, we are eventually deserving of the punishment of hell, yet thanks to God’s general grace, we are given a plethora of wonderful but undeserved blessings in this life, and thanks to his special grace, we are granted sin forgiveness and a place to call home in paradise.
Thirdly, a fair assessment of the New Testament texts reveals that Jesus never asserted that his disciples would experience only positive outcomes, or even more positive outcomes; the reality is exactly the reverse. Jesus experienced disease, grief, excruciating pain and suffering, persecution, and death despite leading a flawless, sinless life.
And in the midst of it all, he told his followers that “‘a servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20, ESV).
This was also not a metaphor, as the author, Zane Pratt, put it: “The early disciples of Jesus endured hardship on a regular basis for his sake. Paul and the other apostles both endured excruciating pain.” He continues by extrapolating that “the normal Christian existence is marked by pain and conflict.”
Let’s address the topic, “Does obeying God mean that wonderful things will happen,” now that we have it more clearly in our minds. The best response is both no and yes!
No, I mean that we shall experience a variety of hardships, challenges, sufferings, and tragedies during this existence on earth (as we have already stated explicitly). Sadly, that is a part of the world we live in. But in our fallen world, those occurrences are kind of “normal.”
Christians must also deal with difficulties that other people cause them. The comfortable experience of Christians in the West has actually been an exception in this regard, as the aforementioned author indicates.
According to what he has observed, the majority of Christians who do not reside in the cozier, more “protected” western culture may actually experience more “evil” than “good” in their daily lives.
For instance, being a follower of Jesus can result in you losing your job, having your family reject you, being imprisoned, being beaten up, or even being killed in Islamic and Hindu societies.
What Does This Mean for Us Today?
Many Christians today have an experience that is much more comparable to what Jesus, Paul, and the other First Apostles had than many believers in America today.
But the second half of my answer to the question “does following God guarantee good things?” is yes. That is, God has a way of turning even the most inconvenient, unpleasant, and sad occurrences into something positive in our life.
Maybe the “good” will be evident and obvious soon, or maybe it will be so subtle that we won’t notice it at all. God sees the entire picture and understands the conclusion as well as the beginning, which allows him to weave an extraordinary story of “good” out of what we consider “evil.”
The narrative of Joseph in Genesis is a prime illustration of this. Joseph’s life was a roller coaster of success and failure. He was mocked as a young man, tossed into a cistern, and practically left for dead.
He was then enslaved and carried far from his home. He was afterwards imprisoned and forgotten for something he didn’t even accomplish. But, in the end, God used all of those experiences to shape Joseph’s heart and place him in a position of enormous wealth and influence, allowing him to serve countless other people.
And that is the kind of God we serve — one who is able to take even the bad and turn it into good. Because of that, we can, like Joseph, look back over our life and consider that no matter what evil happened to us, we can be confident that “God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20, ESV).
“There is nothing, no condition, no problem, no testing, that can ever affect me unless, first and foremost, it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me,”A great man of God once said in a devotion I just read. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment, but as long as I refuse to panic, as long as I lift up my eyes to him and accept it as coming from God’s throne for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart, no sorrow will ever disturb me, no trial will ever disarm me, no circumstance will cause me to fret, because I shall rest in him.
What Does This Really Mean?
Even better, the “yes” answer to our query does not stop there. For Christians, the end result is not just excellent; it is fantastic! Here’s how Jesus put it (which should be encouraging to anyone facing adversity because of their faith):
“Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life” (Luke 18:29-34, ESV).
Paul the Apostle, in the midst of his own suffering, wrote this: “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are” (Romans 8:18-22, NLT).
In light of this wonderful explanation, Paul goes on to say this well-known verse: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28, ESV).
In conclusion, Christian, let us prepare our thoughts for the inevitability of the “bad” that we will encounter in this life while clinging to the magnificent faith of the “good” that God will provide to us in the end!