“Prayer is the way to experience a powerful confidence that God is handling our lives well, that our bad things will turn out for good, our good things cannot be taken from us, and the best things are yet to come…A person of faith will trust in God through prosperity or adversity, even if they are unable to understand why bad things happen.” (Pastor Timothy Keller, Foundation Study Bible, Job 2:10)
“One of the most powerful, though difficult, lessons we all need to learn on our spiritual pilgrimage is that even when bad things happen and we do not understand why, we can trust God to be present and working on our behalf…The hardest part of the life in Christ is trusting God in all circumstances.” (Henry Cloud and John Townsend, Dynamis 12/8/2012)
“We may have an unexamined feeling that God will not let really bad things happen to good people. But Jesus Christ himself disproves that. If God allowed a perfect man to suffer terribly (but for an ultimate good), why should we think that something like that could never happen to us?... Because God is both sovereign and suffering, we know our suffering always has meaning even though we cannot see it. We can trust Him without understanding it all…from the vantage point of eternity, looking back on all of history, it will be clear that even the genuinely bad things that happened were incorporated and used by God—so that in the end they only accomplished the opposite of what they intended. We will see that evil things ultimately brought about more glory and good than if they had not happened.” (Pastor Timothy Keller)
“In society today, we are more isolated from one another. We were not created to live in isolation and handle all of our difficulties ourselves. In the Old Testament we read, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. but woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10)….He [God] allows even bad things to happen to us as He did to His own Son because He is at work in our lives testing us, strengthening us, molding us, making us, preparing us for eternity.” (Fr. Anthony Coniaris)
“The end point of our doubt/faith journey is a place of faith and trust - a trust in God no matter what, a release of our own sense of control and turning over our lives and situations to Him (this is not abdication but subordination). I am talking about no matter what happens in life, no matter how bad things get that we ultimately trust God even though we don’t understand why things are happening the way they are and we may feel absolutely wretched. This is one of the biggest challenges we face to our trust and faith in God; when we believe everything happening to us is simply unfair, we have done nothing to deserve it, and are desperately trying to fight it or fix it. The truth is, while things may be unfair or undeserved, the depth of our trust in God is often in direct proportion to our fear and inability to let go of control.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)
“Christ our God is discussing the news events of the day [Luke 13:1-9], after some who have come to hear Him report that some residents of Galilee were killed for provoking the Roman occupation forces (vs. 1). They are wondering whether these deaths are actually a punishment from God (vs. 2), a speculation that our Lord flatly rejects (vs. 3). In His answer, the Lord also mentions those who died accidentally when the tower of Siloam collapsed. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time (vs. 4), and thus were not being punished by God.” (OCPM 11/9/2017)
“God could not make a world in which we are free and at the same time guarantee that everyone would choose Him. So the world is broken and bad things happen. But God promises that He will be with those who love Him. He will bring us through the fire, and we will come forth as gold.” (James MacDonald)
“One of the most powerful, though difficult, lessons we all need to learn on our spiritual pilgrimage is that even when bad things happen and we do not understand why, we can trust God to be present and working on our behalf…The hardest part of the life in Christ is trusting God in all circumstances." (Henry Cloud and John Townsend, Dynamis 12/8/2012)
“Remember, whatever good or bad things happen to us, they have only one single purpose, to awaken us to the reality of God and help us on the path toward union with Him. There is no other reason for being born on this planet, believe me. It is up to us whether or not we take advantage of these wake-up calls." (Fr. Maximos)
“You can rest in the knowledge that even when bad things happen, God is always there. He is always in charge. Although He may not always deliver in the way you expect, you will find His grace sufficient.” (Kay Arthur)