WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN, UNDERSTANDING GOD'S CHARACTER

When Bad Things Happen: Understanding God's True Character
There's a question that haunts many believers, whispered in hospital rooms and shouted at the sky during life's darkest moments: Does God make people sick?
It's a question born from real pain, from watching loved ones suffer, from reading certain Old Testament passages that seem to paint a picture of a God who smites and afflicts. And if we're honest, most of us have wrestled with this tension at some point in our faith journey.
The answer might surprise you. Yes, the Bible does say "the Lord smote" and "the Lord struck with sickness." But before you close this page in confusion or frustration, let's dig deeper, because the truth is far more beautiful than the surface reading suggests.
The Danger of Misunderstanding
Second Peter 3:16 warns us about people who twist and misconstrue difficult scriptures "to their own utter destruction." When it comes to healing and God's character, perhaps no area of theology has been more twisted than this one.
The confusion has led millions to a dangerous conclusion: that whatever happens must be God's will. Someone gets cancer? God's will. A child dies? God's will. A plague sweeps through? God's will. This theology conveniently removes all human responsibility while painting God as an unpredictable deity who randomly afflicts His children to teach them lessons.
But this contradicts everything we know about God's character.
Two Players, Not One
Here's the critical insight that changes everything: When scripture speaks of judgment and destruction, there are always two players involved, not one.
Look carefully at Exodus 12:23: "For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood upon the lintel and the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you."
Wait, the destroyer? Who's that?
Suddenly we see the picture clearly. God is passing judgment based on human choices, but it's the destroyer, the devil, who actually brings the death and devastation. God is not the destroyer; He's the protector keeping the destroyer away from those covered by the blood.
This pattern repeats throughout scripture. Judges 2:14 says God "delivered them into the hand of the spoilers." He didn't spoil them Himself, He removed His protective hand because of their persistent disobedience, and the enemy who was already waiting swooped in.
The Old Covenant vs. The New
Every example of God "smiting" people comes from the Old Testament, before Jesus. These people didn't have what you have. They didn't have:

• The indwelling Holy Spirit
• Authority to lay hands on the sick
• The finished work of the cross
• A new and better covenant with better promises

Everything changed when Jesus came. And here's the question that should settle this once and for all: If it's God's will to make people sick, why didn't Jesus ever do it?
Jesus claimed to only do what He saw the Father doing. He said He came to show us exactly what God is like. Yet in all His ministry, we never see Jesus making anyone sick to teach them a lesson, to test their faith, or to punish their sin. Instead, He healed them all.
If sickness were God's will, wouldn't Jesus have modeled that? Wouldn't there be a scripture about believers laying hands on the well to make them sick? The very thought sounds like witchcraft, because it is the opposite of God's nature.
The Bike Wreck Principle
Imagine a father warning his twelve-year-old son not to ride his bike down a steep, rocky hill. The father explains the danger, pleads with him to walk the bike down, but ultimately leaves the choice to the son.
The boy, feeling confident and independent, ignores the warning. Predictably, he hits a rock and crashes spectacularly, bike destroyed, body bloodied, pride shattered.
Did the father allow it? Yes, in the sense that he didn't physically restrain his son. But did the father cause it? Did the father want it to happen? Was it the father's will? Absolutely not.
Yet when the son is lying there bleeding, would it make any sense for him to point at his father and cry, "Why did you do this to me?"
This is exactly what we do with God. He warns us, guides us, pleads with us through His Word and His Spirit. When we ignore Him and the consequences come, consequences that were already waiting in a fallen world, we point to heaven and ask, "Why, God?"
The Real Culprit
Your body knows sickness isn't supposed to be there. That's why God created your immune system, to fight against disease. Would God create a defense system in your body only to later override it and afflict you Himself? That makes no sense.
The truth is there's enough bacteria, viruses, and disease in the world to kill you a thousand times over. But God. Your immune system, God's protection, His mercy, these keep you alive every single day.
The devil is called "the destroyer" for a reason. John 10:10 is crystal clear: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
One steals, kills, and destroys. The Other gives life abundantly. How have we gotten these two confused?
The Power of Self-Examination
First Corinthians 11:30-31 reveals something crucial: "For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment."
Did you catch that? There's a way to avoid judgment entirely: judge yourself.
This doesn't mean beating yourself up or living in condemnation. It means taking an honest look in the mirror, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal areas that need to change, and quickly repenting. When you do this, you close the door to the destroyer. You shut off his access.
God's forgiveness is immediate and complete. And His giving always follows His forgiving. When you repent, you're positioned to receive everything He has for you, including healing.
A Testimony of Power
Recently, a man with stage four lung cancer, liver cancer, and a suspicious spot on his brain attended a small gathering where believers prayed for him. They laid hands on him, believing God's Word about healing.
Days later, he returned to his doctors. The testimony that came back was stunning: the cancer was gone in his lymph nodes and in his brain and the cancer in his lungs had shrunk about 85 percent.
This is what happens when believers understand God's true character and step into their authority. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is available to you today.
The Bottom Line
God is not in heaven randomly deciding who gets sick and who stays healthy. He's not using cancer to teach you patience or arthritis to keep you humble.
He's a good Father who paid an unspeakably high price, the life of His Son, to provide healing for you. By Jesus' stripes, you were healed. Past tense. Finished work.
Yes, judgment exists. Yes, consequences are real. But God is not the destroyer. He's the deliverer. He's not the one making you sick. He's the one who wants you well.
When you truly grasp this truth, when you experience divine healing for yourself, something remarkable happens that faith spills over into every other area of your life. Suddenly you can believe God for provision, for protection, for wisdom. The faith that brings healing opens doors to abundant life in every dimension.
Stop blaming God for what the enemy is doing. Stop accepting sickness as "God's mysterious will." Examine yourself, repent quickly of anything the Holy Spirit reveals, and position yourself to receive everything your Father has already provided.
The destroyer wants you sick, defeated, and pointing your finger at God. But God wants you healed, whole, and walking in the fullness of life that Jesus died to give you.
The choice, as always, is yours.