"Why do bad things happen
To people who are good?"
How cruel God must be!
I wish we really understood.
But the question I am asking
Especially when I am sad,
Is."Why do good things happen
To people that are bad?"
Robert Burns, they tell me,
Wrote an ode to a wee mouse
When he had destroyed
The little mouse's house.
In the poem he mentioned,
As he thought about a sip,
The space there is so narrow
Between the cup and lip..
And then the newest thinkers,
Give us their deepest thought.
As they try to find out the answer
This is what they taught:
That God who lets things happen,
Even if it's for a season,
Must be mean or helpless
For there is no other reason.
Now when the life we're living
Becomes bereft of laughter,
It can make some sense to us
When we think of the "Hereafter".
Since they in their wisdom
Have denied either heaven or hell
They have created this dilemma
As this life only they would sell.
You see, if there is really a heaven
And if there is really a hell,
Then to secure the right one
Is not hard to tell.
For if the way to Heaven
Is through Christ our Lord,
If we need to trust Him
And lean upon His word,
Then to have in this life
Only joy and peace,
To never have to struggle
With problems that never cease
Will not drive us to the Savior,
To rap on Heaven's door.
For if this life is so perfect
What is Heaven for?
It is not the one who never suffers
That is blessed of God.
For that one awakes from slumber
Only when placed beneath the sod.
But the one who, like the butterfly
Struggles so hard to be free,
When he leaves the cocoon of life
Will finally clearly see
That God who loved him dearly
Yet let him struggle so
Had his best interest in mind
When He let him go!
And the one who had life's good things
Who never had to pray
But found life always pleasant
Every single day
Was not blessed by our God
But surly cursed instead!
He never even sought his God
Until he was finally dead
So don't seek on earth your heaven
No matter what befalls you
But look to the God who made you
And listen when he calls you
ghvs 04/26/96
