Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?

00:00 - Speaker 1 You know I'd like to play pitcher, but sometimes he puts me in left field. No, I want to be the pitcher, but he has me out in left field because you know what? There's a role for me out there. Some of you right now have been put out, even sitting on the bench. You may not be able to actually be getting into the game. You're sitting on your bench warmer right now, or in the bullpen or what have you. I'm just trying to say, no matter where you are right now, your joy is not based on things or this world. I mean, this is all going to go what way, it doesn't matter. My joy is based on Him. 00:27 - Speaker 2 Welcome to the Ignite with Barry Meguiar podcast, where Barry's book and passion for spreading God's love are guaranteed to ignite your life. Now listen in and prepare to have your life ignited. 00:43 - Speaker 1 You know, bad things happen to good people. I mean the scripture, the rain falls and the just and the unjust. I've experienced that. I think most of you have. I mean I've been through hell. I mean I have had so many bad things happen to me but God has made them all good. Romans 8, 20,. He makes all the bad stuff turn into good stuff If you love him and live your life according to his purpose. 01:05 So why do we go through these tough things? I mean I look back. I mean I had a relative of mine that was a business partner tried to stab me. He tried to kill me. Okay, I had a relative sue me for religious discrimination. I had a daughter that lost a drug addiction for 10 years. I lost her. I lost her. I had a business partner, a venture capitalist, that came and tried to get me throw me out of my own company. I mean I've had unbelievable things happen to me. You know what? Every one of those things has made me better, not worse. 01:36 When we, when we want to build our trust, like building muscles, there has to be a resistance. If we don't have challenges, we're all going to be spoiled Christians. It's meaningless. I mean just go along because we're just taken care of. I mean, we have too many kids like that now. You just bless them with everything and they're out of control. We would be out of control, christians, if life just went along. God never promised us a rose garden, and we all know it. When we get into those tough situations, don't we have growth spurts in our Christian walk, in our spiritual walk, in our spiritual walk, in our closeness to God? Don't we get closer to God in those tough situations? So the first thing is, as Christians, as lovers, as followers of Jesus Christ, we're going to go through those tough times, because it's through those tough times that we grow stronger and stronger. I got to tell you I'm pretty strong right now because I've been through a lot of tough stuff. 02:24 But that's not the only reason we're to be salt and light. You know, when God salts the earth, it's kind of like salting by a steak on the grill. I like to grill, I like to barbecue. When I put salt, you know the salt. Some of it lands on top and some of it lands down the crevices and the sides and some on the grill. We're the salt of the earth, and when he salts us, you know, not all the salt lands on top, not all it lands on the. You know the house and the hill and the big job and fame and fortune, whatever. Some of that salt ends up in cancer wards and foreclosures on homes and unemployment lines and terrible situations. 02:59 The fact of the matter is, the joy of the Lord is our strength, not our position. I learned from Bill Gothard many years ago God is not nearly so concerned with what we go through as he is in how we respond to what we go through and when we lose something of precious value or, you know, there's a tragic death in our family or whatever we hurt. I mean I'm not saying you know we're not impactants, but we don't sorrow as people who have no hope. We look at it and we say, god, we don't understand why, but you're God, you're the God of the universe and you love me and you've prepared a place for me in heaven and I know you're going to make my path straight. I know you're going to come in and I trust you, god, and it's when you're doing that, in those tough times, that you have the biggest witness. Same words you probably said just before the tragedy, but now they have so much more meaning and you know what? 03:46 The people? There's a lot of people that are lost and hurting and can't find God and they're in the cancer wards and they're on the employment lines and they're. They're out on the street In some cases. They're in all these just very difficult situations. I can't reach them, I can't. I can talk to them, but you know what? I haven't walked in their shoes. The best witness, the best encouragement comes from somebody who's walked in those same shoes and he places those. That's our position. You know, I'd like to play pitcher, but sometimes he puts me in left field. No, I want to be the pitcher, but he has me out in left field because you know what? There's a role for me out there. Some of you right now have been put out, even sitting on the bench. You may not be able to actually be getting into the game. You're sitting on your bench warmer right now, or in the bull pit or what have you. 04:30 I'm just trying to say, no matter where you are right now, your joy should be just as strong, because your joy is not based on things or this world. I mean, this is all going to go away, it doesn't matter. Our joy is based on Him and I was always told by the scripture we are a peculiar people. I don't want to be weird, I don't want to be peculiar, but I found myself being peculiar over these last few years, not by being odd, but by the fact that when I've been in my tough situations I almost died. Three years ago right now I was in a hospital in a coma. Okay, I know what tough times are. You know, in that hospital I ministered to 23 different doctors and nurses. I was on fire. I thought God, if I'm gonna die, I'm gonna go out with a bang. You know what. And he made the path straight. He took me through to the other side. It's so much fun. So if you're in that tough place, yeah, he lets us get in the tough places. One for our own personal development and secondly, and maybe even more importantly, because he's put you there because there's no other way. He has to get a Christian there. No-transcript. 05:42 So look at where you are and rejoice in it. I call it green pastures. When I was a kid I thought you know what? Why would God ever have to make me lie down in green pastures? In the 23rd Psalm I said that doesn't make sense to me. You know how many times in my life he's made me lie down in green pastures, but I didn't know it. He's forced me to go away. I didn't want to go. I was unhappy. I was just like, wow, what is going on here? I was really kind of like not handling it. As well, as I'm talking about we should handle it now. This goes back earlier in my life and then eventually I would look around and say that's a green pasture. Wow, and look how God has used me here. Thank you, god. 06:25 David Wilkerson preached a sermon years back Right song, wrong side. Right song, wrong side. I've never forgotten, and I'll close with this. You talk about the children of Israel. They're leaving Egypt. They get to the river and now they see they can't get across. The Egyptians are coming down, the army's coming down on them and they have nowhere to go. And so now they're mad at God, they're mad at Moses. I mean, they're not happy campers and of course Moses puts the pole down in the party of the waters. It's an amazing miracle. They get to the other side and they rejoice. So they're singing and they build a monument. 06:56 You know, and David Wilkinson said that night right song, wrong side, when you're in the dark spot, recognize. God is not saying oops, he didn't bring it about you. No, he's placed you there for a purpose. You have purpose in your life and all you have to do is look out and grab it and you will have joy Again. It's that joy that you just can't lose. God has you right now, right where he wants you. I don't care how deep the pain. I don't care how deep the pain. In fact, the deeper the pain and the bigger the hurt and the darker the place that you're in, the brighter your light is ready to shine through Jesus Christ. 07:35 - Speaker 2 If you enjoyed today's episode, let us know, and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review to help us reach more listeners. Remember sharing your faith ignites your faith. See you next time on the Ignite with Barry Meguiar podcast.