Back on September 8, Lance Powers was leading music here at Good News and he recommended an article that I had recently written titled, “Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?”

At one of the services he accidentally called it, “Why Do Good Things Happen to Bad People?” Many people figured out that he had accidentally switched the words, but that afternoon I thought to myself, “You know, that is a different topic, but maybe I should write an article about that too!”

So, here we are.
 

This is a topic that the Scriptures bring up. For instance, a man named Asaph penned Psalm 73, and he wrote, “…my steps nearly went astray. For I envied the arrogant; I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”

Therefore, I think it’s safe to say that the Scriptures do mention that good things happen to bad people; at least sometimes, the wicked prosper. But is that fair? Why would God allow blessings to happen to terrible people? If God is just, why does this kind of thing ever occur?

In a similar vein as my last article about this kind of thing, I believe there is more than one right answer to this question. In fact, if you read “Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People” you might be able to guess one of my answers to this question.
 

Good things happen to bad people, because there are no good people for them to happen to. Scripture is clear that no one is good (see Mark 10:17-18) and that everyone is a sinner (see 1 John 1:8 and Romans 3:23.) So, if good things are going to happen at all, they are going to happen to bad people – which are the only kind of people there are left, after you’ve acknowledged that no one is good but God.

This question is complicated by the fact that many of us don’t think of ourselves as bad people. We tend to think that it’s other people who are bad and being blessed unnecessarily.
 

Even for those of us who would admit that we are sinners undeserving of God’s grace, we never complain when we are blessed unnecessarily. We are not good, and yet it never offends us when God brings good into our lives. We never pray, “God this isn’t fair. I’ve committed wickedness and yet you are blessing me anyway. What’s with You?” 

(Hat tip to my friend, Jeremy Richards, for pointing this out to me recently.)

We are happy when God’s grace moves in our direction; it’s when God is gracious to people who we don’t like that we start making the “God is unfair” accusations.

This is evident in the story of Jonah. Jonah seems to be pretty happy with God’s grace when he says, “I called to the Lord in my distress and He answered me” and “Salvation is from the Lord!” in chapter 2 of the book of Jonah. I think he was pretty happy to be saved out of the belly of the fish; he loved God’s unmerited kindness when it was directed toward him.

However, later on, Jonah complains when that kindness is shown to a group of people he hates. In chapter 4, after God forgave the Ninevites, it says that Jonah “became furious” and he said, “Please Lord, isn’t this what I said while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled to Tarshish in the first place. I knew that you were a merciful and compassionate God…”  Jonah talks about God’s mercy and compassion as if it’s a bad thing!

Why do we do this? Well, I think much of the time, it stems from envy. We are fine when God blesses us in ways He doesn’t bless other people. But we do not like it when God blesses other people in ways that He hasn’t blessed us. Even Asaph in that psalm I quoted earlier said:

“For I envied the arrogant; I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”

This “injustice” often has as much (if not more) to do with our covetousness than it does about us not understanding God.
 

Another reason that good things happen to bad people is explained in a doctrine often called, “Common Grace.” Common Grace is what it sounds like: a grace that God shows that is not special to a particular group of people, but rather is common to all people.

Jesus used some examples of this in Matthew 5 when he said, “[God] causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Yes, we have to admit, sunshine and rain are blessings from God, and he gives them to everyone regardless of their behaviors and beliefs. Even Hitler got to watch the sun rise each morning.

Jesus uses this example as a motivation for why we love our enemies. One reason we should love our enemies is because God does. That’s why Jesus said: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good…”

So, another reason good things happen to bad people is because God has a common grace that He gives even to people who don’t follow Him.
 

This is the reason I’m least sure of, but I am bringing it up anyway, because I think it’s good to consider.

There are times when we envy the cushy lives of people we think are terrible, without realizing that some “cushy things” are almost more like judgments than blessings.

Remember that Proverb where Agur says, “Give me neither poverty nor wealth… Otherwise I might have too much and deny you”? In this verse (Proverbs 30:8-9) Agur seems to understand that some blessings might not actually be good for us. He seems to believe that too much wealth would be bad for his relationship with God.

Similarly, there is a story in the New Testament where a rich man is told to give all that he has to the poor and then follow Jesus. His reaction: “He went away grieving, because he had many possessions.” His possessions were an obstacle to his following Jesus.

After that happened, Jesus said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” It might be good for us to remember that not everything that we think is a blessing is actually good for us.

Not too long ago, one of my kids asked me a hypothetical: “Dad what if one day I had a billion dollars?”

I responded, “I hope that never happens. I would never wish a curse like that on you.”

CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY:
There you have it. A collection of reasons why good things happen to bad people: