Jehoshaphat was a righteous man (2 Chronicles 17:3-5), and as a result God blessed him abundantly. But it is a mistake to believe that because we are seeking to live a life pleasing to God, and to serve the Lord, that somehow we are going to receive a divine immunity from pain and sorrow while living in this world. If this were a perfect world, then we would no longer be longing for that world that God has promised for those who have put our faith in Jesus Christ.
Whenever a tragedy befalls a believer, Satan seeks to cause us to blame God for the tragedy. He is truly a spin-master. We need to realize that Satan is the one that governs the world in which we live today. This world is in total rebellion against God and against the laws of God. It is under the control of Satan. Jesus said that Satan was the prince of this world (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). Paul once called Satan the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4).
We are living in this rebellious world and God has not promised us immunity from the results of this rebellion that fills the world today. Paul wrote, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). Sorrows, wars and tragedies have come because mankind is in rebellion against God. We are not living as God intended mankind to live.
We are living in a world that has fallen from the divine intention and purpose that God had in mind when He created the world. When Adam and Eve joined Satan in the rebellion against the commandment of God and they ate of the forbidden fruit, they sold out to Satan.
When Satan exercised his will against God he thought that he could become like God, and this is exactly what he suggested to Eve. If she would rebel against the will of God then she would become as God. Today men and women continue their rebellion against the commandments of God and we continue to suffer the dire consequences of that rebellion. This world is a far cry from what God intended it to be.
David wrote, “Why do the heathen say, “Where is now your God?” When we, as a child of God, are seeking to walk after the Lord, and tragedy comes into our lives, there are always those that come along and taunt us saying, “Well, where is your God now?”
There are many things in life that are a mystery. God has told us that His ways are not our ways and His ways are beyond our finding out. We do not know all the reason why God allows us to suffer pain, hardship, grief and sorrow. There are many things in life that we do not know.
Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus and told Him that Lazarus was sick. When Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” (John 11:3-4). And many times in our life we are going to experience things that look to us like it is a horrible situation, but in reality it is to bring glory to God.
Many would ask, “How can a tragedy in a person’s life bring glory to God?” The way you react to the tragedies of your life will either bring glory to God or dishonor to God. We will demonstrate how strong our faith is by how we react to the sorrows and tragedies that come into our life. By our actions we will demonstrate whether we really believe that every thing that happens to us is under God’s control.
Paul wrote, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
It is God who comforts us as we go through our own personal troubles of life, and after we have gone through our own troubles, God will use us to comfort others as they go through their troubles. A good example of this is when someone loses a loved one by some accident or sickness. After they have gone through this experience they will understand how to help someone else that is going through this same experience. And in helping others in their troubles we glorify God. One way we can serve God in this life is to serve others.
As Christians we know that God loves us. We know that God is in control of our life. We know that all things are working together for our good, because we love God and He has called us according to His purpose. We know that Jesus has gone into heaven to prepare a place for us, and that some day where He is we will be also. We know that God is for us and that God is on our side. How do we know these things? The Bible tells us so.
We may go through a very painful experience in life, and we may not know why or what the purpose of that experience is; but when we come up against something we don’t know or understand, we should always fall back on what we do know. We must learn to do that, because in life there are going to be things that we do not understand.
Tragedies and experiences that we cannot explain or understand will happen to us. But yet we know that God does love us and we know that He has an eternal purpose for this tragedy or experience that is happening to us. And so we have to fall back to what we know. Isaiah wrote, “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2).