Why Bad Things Happen to Good People...Part 2

(Make sure you read part 1 below before reading part 2)

The book of Hosea in the Old Testament is a rather tragic story. Hosea was a good man, a prophet of God, always faithful. Hosea married a woman named Gomer, who was a prostitute. He loved her, and hoped he could change her, but she was continually unfaithful to him. Every time Gomer strayed, Hosea forgave her, and welcomed her back into his house. Yet, she would fall back into her sinful ways, betraying Hosea each time. And, each time, Hosea forgave her, and embraced her. Hosea’s relationship with Gomer symbolizes God’s relationship with the people of Israel during the time of Hosea, and God’s relationship with all of us. Most of us have faith in God, and make some time for God, but often we put other things such as money or sex or booze first, and treat them as our gods, ignoring God. God always forgives us and is always striving to repair the relationship with us.

There are times we are faithful to God, and times we stray, before realizing we have sinned, and returning, begging for forgiveness, like the Prodigal Son. The underlying problem may be not that we reject God or hate God, for most of us believe somewhat in God and want some sort of relationship with God, but that, no matter how much we love God, have faith in Him, and honor Him, there is always other things and people that come before God, that we love more, that we love most.

There is a person I know. He is smart, funny, fun to be around, laid back, relaxed. He is tall, has nice dark brown curly hair, and beautiful eyes and eyelashes. He is nice, but not too nice where you get sick of it. At times he can be annoying, but he is never boring. He was in the popular crowd in high school, played three sports, was a star in two of them, but was friends with everyone in class, and was liked by the not so popular kids as well as the popular kids. In college, he was involved in campus activities and played a varsity sport. He was one of the most well known people on campus, and well liked by everyone. He was often the life of the party. He fits in great at his job, is liked by his colleagues and those he is in charge of. Women like him too, think he is great fun to be around, but he never comes first for them. There is always some other guy who is better when it comes to dating. He is firmly stuck in the friend zone.

Just as this guy is liked by women, but not enough to be “the one”, God is liked by most people, but people are unwilling to put God first in their lives. It could be that this person, like Hosea, was given a certain set of circumstances so he could see what it is like for God to be rejected, to not be placed first, or to be an example for others see by analogy what we do to God, whether it be being unfaithful to Him or just giving Him a lukewarm faith, where other things always come before Him.