Do All Things Happen for a Reason?

January 1

Do all Things Happen for a Reason?

“Did you notice my servant Job?” the Lord asked. “There is no one on earth as faithful and good as he is. He worships me and is careful not to do anything evil. You persuaded me to let you attack him for no reason at all, but Job is still as faithful as ever.” (Job 2:3; Good News Translation)

A friend is diagnosed with cancer, several teenagers are killed in a car accident on their way to college, a child is killed by a stray bullet in a drive by shooting, a man breaks into an apartment and brutally rapes a woman, a child is molested and killed by a pedophile, a great marriage is ending in divorce due to infidelity, a company goes bankrupt and the sole provider of the home loses his job….

The list can go on. Bad things happen to so many people. There is more negative than positive in this world. When these things happen we feel that we need something to say that brings comfort. One of many phrases chosen by our comforters (both Christian and non-Christian) is, “Well, all things happen for a reason”.

The statement usually means that God caused, planned or purposefully allowed someone to suffer a misfortune for an undetermined reason. One may not discover the reason in this life, but in the “sweet-by-and-by” all things will be made clear.

Job suffered a number of misfortunes: his children, his property, and the loss of his health. The first two chapters in Job reveal that Satan was the agent of destruction. Many claim that God had a divine secret plan for all of this and that Satan was merely doing God’s bidding. However, God says that there was no good reason for any of this to happen to Job. God did not design these satanic attacks. Satan, by falsely accusing God and Job, provoked and instigated the whole thing. There was no divine plan.

God has been blamed for Satan’s work even when it was clear that Satan was the culprit. We blame God by saying that He had a reason for allowing it. But God says that there was no particular reason for Job to suffer as he did. He places the whole plan for Job’s ruin on Satan.

Let us stop looking for some mystical good in evil situations. Satan’s work is what it is and is to be resisted, not embraced (James 4:7). Let us stop blaming God by assigning divine reasons for things that God says are completely Satan’s doing and not His.

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