Chapter 34 of Genesis is one very odd chapter. As I talk with many people about the absolute truth, inerrancy and divine nature of God’s Word, I usually come up against the same few arguments from those that doubt it’s claims to truly be the Word of God. And for some reason they all seem to get hung up on the kid’s stories. Stuff like the ark and all the animals or Jonah being swallowed by a big fish. Maybe it's because that's all they know about the Bible. But you know what? Chapters like Genesis 34 never come up. In fact, I think chapters like this teach us more about the genuineness of God’s Word than the miracles and big stories. Why? Well, think about it, if you were to write your biography right now, how much of the bad and dirt would you write about? How many words would you spend carefully describing all of the horrible sin and mistakes in your life? Probably very few. More than likely you’d skip some of the messy details and move on to the positive, the victories, the triumphs and the accolades. But you see, chapters like this in God's Word do just the opposite. I just can’t see Jacob, Dinah, Levi or Simeon either writing this story or ever wanting it to be documented for eternity in the pages of God’s Word. You see the truth of God’s Word is that all life is here in these pages, the good, the bad, the ugly. The miracles, the creation, the destruction. The birth, the death, the resurrection. Truth indeed.
Chapter 34 plays out like an rated R movie. It’s all here, rape, mass-murder, lies, deceit, evil, pride, theft, enslavement, greed and battle. Not a chapter I would be happy to put into my autobiography. But as I read through it, I can’t help but think of the one constant question I field from unbelievers as well as believers. The one question that I think more struggle with than any other. “Why do bad things happen to good people?” or more specifically, “why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?” Oh, it seems man has wrestled with this question forever and will be until the return of King Jesus. Let’s explore.
We see the chapter open up with the rape of Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter. She was born to Leah, Rachel’s older sister, the only girl out of 12 boys. This is a horrible scene, one no one ever wants to face or deal with. I'm sure as soon as the news reached Jacob's ears, he was asking God, why Dinah? Why me? Why our family? Why?
When I field the question of God and the good and the bad, I’ve noticed it’s usually one of tunnel vision. We look at a singular isolated personal event and in an effort to get closure or reasoning, we localize the event and lock out all other factors. For instance, if we only look at what happens to Dinah and ask God why, we are not really being fair to God unless we factor in all of the decisions that lead up to the event. In this instance, God never intended Jacob’s family to even be in this part of the world. Jacob was in disobedience to God. You’ve heard the old saying, “wrong place at the wrong time.”
Another problem with asking the question, “why do bad things happen to good people?” is the general assumption that anyone can be good. That sounds a little harsh but if you frequently partake in the 5MC, you know about sin nature. We ALL have it, you can’t deny it and you can’t suppress it. We’re told in Romans 3 that “ all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And folks, in my dictionary all means all. So, one hard lined (truthful) response to the question could be “who is good?” Who is so good that they should be surprised when bad happens in their life? I mean in a direct comparison I can think of one man that was not only good, but perfect. In fact, He was the perfect Son of God, that lived a perfect sin-free life, even while walking in an ugly sin filled world. Did bad happen to Jesus Christ? Oh boy, did it. Did He deserve it. Rightfully not, but without Jesus’ actions upon the Cross, the entire human existence would be doomed to eternity separated from God. So part of the question is really, who is good?
Another interesting wrinkle in this question is what is good and what is bad? Who determines that what is happening in a life is either good or bad? You see, if you were to ask Jesus as He was carrying that Cross through the streets to Calvary if it was bad, I’m sure He would say yes. But His painful, bloody walk to that Cross bore the single greatest act of love, mercy and grace the world will ever know. So was it bad or good? So many times, as people approach me with this question, I see that they are again, asking it with tunnel vision. Something has happened in their life that they see as catastrophic or dire and they have no choice but to see it as bad. It's not what they want or desire, therefore it's bad. But you see the error here is one of a limited field of view. I’ve heard my Pastor call it the 30,000 foot view. The view that God has over our lives is broad and complete and we are simply getting a very limited view from the ground. I’d also like to add-in the “other side of the fence view.” I’ve noticed that others can often see our problems and catastrophes in a much different light. Sometimes the view that others have from just across the fence can be much different than ours is in the middle of our plight.
These views might be able to help in having a deeper, more broad perspective of our lives and how we interpret things that happen that we don’t like, but inevitably things will happen that just make no sense at all. I lost a sister in law and her 3 month old daughter in a car accident many years ago and to this day I do not know why. I lost a 21 year old cousin to suicide years ago and still wonder. I’ve seen people taken by cancer weeks after getting diagnosed, no time left to even say goodbye to all those they loved and cherished. I’ve seen couples lose young children, and young children lose parents. We’ve all seen the tragic events of the world, thousands claimed by tsunamis. 25 taken by a gunman. As much as we try to search these events, we will eventually be stumped and be forced to revert to, “I just don’t understand.”
But as we walk this life with Jesus, we were never meant to understand it all. You see I’ve learned that Jesus is not just for me sometimes or just when I need Him, but He is for me all the time. He is loving me and caring for me even as I slumber. He is always seeking the best for me and sometimes the best for me is not knowing. I cannot fully understand God and His perfect plan with this small human brain, I was never meant to. As soon as I give up trying to think like God or understand God, the more that His peace can flood my soul.
If you have events in your life today that cause you to ask God “why?”, today I will be praying for you. I will pray that you can experience the peace of a loving Father. That you can, in your effort to get an answer, discover something so much better, the love of Jesus as He tends to your soul. It makes me think of a great quote from Planet of the Apes as Charlton Heston sets out at the end of the movie to find out the answer to what perplexes him on this planet. Dr Zaius, the intelligent orangutan cautions him, “Don’t look for the answer Taylor, you might not like what you find.” Don’t look too hard for the answer to your pain and walk right by the loving arms of Jesus. In this particular struggle or loss, God just might not want you to have the answer. He might just want you to draw closer to Him.
No matter what your struggle might be today, I pray that Jesus would hold you close, comfort you with His Words and bless you with His peace in the midst of your storm.
Blessings.
I love your writing style, Dan! May the presence of the Lord overtake you.