Day 2 - Monday | Daily Devotions | Connect the Testaments | Morning and Evening: Daily Reading | My Utmost for His Highest | Thoughts for the Quiew Hour |
January 19: The Million Dollar Question Genesis 31, Matthew 23:37–24:28, Ecclesiastes 7:13–21 “Why do bad things happen to good people?” This is an ancient question, though often asked as if it’s new. The Preacher in Ecclesiastes says, “There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing” (Eccl 7:15). Answers to this age-old question do exist; the simplest is that, since people gave in to temptation early on, havoc—caused by humans and by evil spirits—has taken hold. The time between now and when God retakes complete control of the world is just grace; the moment He does is the end for all evil, including those who have not chosen Christ as their Savior. The only way to fix the world is to rid it of all evil, but the Preacher doesn’t offer this deductive explanation. Instead, he notes that life is a series of balancing acts, and he uses hyperbole to make his point (Eccl 7:16–17). The Preacher goes on t...