Thread: Do All Things Happen for a Reason?

The font is very small in your blog posts, you should increase it a bit.

I think people get the "for a reason" and Romans 8:28 confused. God WILL use all things for His glory, but with the stipulation that we love Him and are called according to His purpose.

However, scripture also tells us that what satan meant for evil God will use for his glory.

But it all hinges on bringing glory to Him.

Even Job's story, his unwavering faith glorified God.

Originally Posted by A.J.

I think people get the "for a reason" and Romans 8:28 confused. God WILL use all things for His glory, but with the stipulation that we love Him and are called according to His purpose.

However, scripture also tells us that what satan meant for evil God will use for his glory.

But it all hinges on bringing glory to Him.

Even Job's story, his unwavering faith glorified God.

Job's faithfulness, though with a lack of understanding :

Job 2:9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

The end of Job's faithfulness :

Job 3:1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

Job repents from his words spoken without knowledge :

Job 42:1 Then Job answered the Lord and said:
2 “I know that You can do everything,
And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.
3 You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 Listen, please, and let me speak;
You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’
5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,
But now my eye sees You.
6 Therefore I abhor myself,
And repent in dust and ashes.”

After repenting, he is restored.

Originally Posted by Colonel

Job's faithfulness, though with a lack of understanding :

Job 2:9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

The end of Job's faithfulness :

Job 3:1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

Job repents from his words spoken without knowledge :

Job 42:1 Then Job answered the Lord and said:
2 “I know that You can do everything,
And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.
3 You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 Listen, please, and let me speak;
You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’
5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,
But now my eye sees You.
6 Therefore I abhor myself,
And repent in dust and ashes.”

After repenting, he is restored.

Right.

Job 2:4 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.
5 But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”

Job's sin began in 3:1 and didn't get any better throughout his discussion with his three friends through chapter 31. Their discussion is very difficult to understand and they are all rebuked for their lack of knowledge in chapter 42. Elihu clears it up in his speech from chapter 32 and on, he also sums up Job's attitude that he took on from chapter 3 :

Job 34:35 ‘Job speaks without knowledge,
His words are without wisdom.’
36 Oh, that Job were tried to the utmost,
Because his answers are like those of wicked men!
37 For he adds rebellion to his sin;
He claps his hands among us,
And multiplies his words against God.”

So Satan did manage to overcome Job for a time. But God was gracious enough to send the youngster Elihu to set him straight where his three friends didn't manage to make sense to him :

Job 33:22 Yes, his soul draws near the Pit,
And his life to the executioners.
23 “If there is a messenger for him,
A mediator, one among a thousand,
To show man His uprightness,
24 Then He is gracious to him, and says,
‘Deliver him from going down to the Pit;
I have found a ransom’;
25 His flesh shall be young like a child’s,
He shall return to the days of his youth.
26 He shall pray to God, and He will delight in him,
He shall see His face with joy,
For He restores to man His righteousness.
27 Then he looks at men and says,
‘I have sinned, and perverted what was right,
And it did not profit me.’
28 He will redeem his[b] soul from going down to the Pit,
And his[c] life shall see the light.
29 “Behold, God works all these things,
Twice, in fact, three times with a man,
30 To bring back his soul from the Pit,
That he may be enlightened with the light of life.

Elihu was that messenger.

Hope you don't mind me posting your blog post, VW.

January 1

Do all Things Happen for a Reason?

“Did you notice my servant Job?” the Lord asked. “There is no one on earth as faithful and good as he is. He worships me and is careful not to do anything evil. You persuaded me to let you attack him for no reason at all, but Job is still as faithful as ever.” (Job 2:3; Good News Translation)

A friend is diagnosed with cancer, several teenagers are killed in a car accident on their way to college, a child is killed by a stray bullet in a drive by shooting, a man breaks into an apartment and brutally rapes a woman, a child is molested and killed by a pedophile, a great marriage is ending in divorce due to infidelity, a company goes bankrupt and the sole provider of the home loses his job….

The list can go on. Bad things happen to so many people. There is more negative than positive in this world. When these things happen we feel that we need something to say that brings comfort. One of many phrases chosen by our comforters (both Christian and non-Christian) is, “Well, all things happen for a reason”.

The statement usually means that God caused, planned or purposefully allowed someone to suffer a misfortune for an undetermined reason. One may not discover the reason in this life, but in the “sweet-by-and-by” all things will be made clear.

Job suffered a number of misfortunes: his children, his property, and the loss of his health. The first two chapters in Job reveal that Satan was the agent of destruction. Many claim that God had a divine secret plan for all of this and that Satan was merely doing God’s bidding. However, God says that there was no good reason for any of this to happen to Job. God did not design these satanic attacks. Satan, by falsely accusing God and Job, provoked and instigated the whole thing. There was no divine plan.

God has been blamed for Satan’s work even when it was clear that Satan was the culprit. We blame God by saying that He had a reason for allowing it. But God says that there was no particular reason for Job to suffer as he did. He places the whole plan for Job’s ruin on Satan.


Let us stop looking for some mystical good in evil situations. Satan’s work is what it is and is to be resisted, not embraced (James 4:7). Let us stop blaming God by assigning divine reasons for things that God says are completely Satan’s doing and not His.

http://www.vindicatinggod.org
Posted by Troy Edwards at 7:22 AM

Originally Posted by victoryword

Do All Things Happen for a Reason?

Looking backwards or forwards?

The reason I was wet was because I got into the shower; but
The reason I was wet was so that I could wash myself.