Articles

If bad things are happening in your life, and you feel like you just can’t handle it, here are some thoughts to encourage you to keep trusting in Jesus, and praying to him, until the bad things stop.

Jesus is fully in control. He can stop the bad things from happening. Listen to the Letter to the Hebrews:

“Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.

God the Father gave Jesus authority over everything. There is nothing left outside Jesus’s control.

Jesus himself said so after the Resurrection:

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

All authority, in both heaven and earth!

St. Paul uses even stronger words:

He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him.

Here, principalities and powers are names of hierarchies of demons.

He disarmed them, or took away their weapons.

He triumphed over them, or won the war against them.

But even more strongly, he made a public example of them.

Making a public example means giving the harshest possible punishment you can to someone who’s doing wrong, to discourage other people from following their bad example.

So, this is good news! Jesus has already won, he disarmed our enemies, and now he has the power to stop them!

Right?

But, bad things are still happening.

Yep. As the Letter to the Hebrews continues:

As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.

There’s still bad things in this life. People still get hurt. Sad things still happen. The very next words of the letter continue:

But we see Jesus,

That’s the answer. He is supposed to be our focus.

While bad things are happening, and we can’t stop them, Jesus will help us. He will be our strength. He will be our comfort.

He’s allowing it, but only for a very short time. Very soon he’s going to make all the bad things stop.

After that, we all get to go to Heaven together—those of us who are good, and who won’t ruin it for everyone else—and it’ll be such a wonderful time.

And this time, no bad things will happen. And the good times will never end.

Focus on Jesus, remember that he suffered with us. He who said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He said this while he was dying a torturous death on the cross, because people condemned him for blaspheming simply because he was telling them the truth and healing people and doing many other good things.

Did God the Father forsake Jesus? Of course not! But in that moment, God the Father allowed bad things to happen to Jesus. So that something much better could happen: so that we could be in Heaven with Jesus.

That’s still the same reason bad things are allowed to happen now. Because Jesus has decided to give even more time to those people who are doing bad, to give them a chance to stop, and to change their minds.

See how merciful he is! Aren’t you glad he’s merciful enough to give them and us more time?

One day, the bad things will all be over, and after a trillion years in Heaven, we’ll look back on this whole life, or even the whole history of humanity as if it happened in the blink of an eye.

By our patience, we are making Jesus happy. Let’s be patient. Pray for the bad things to stop, do everything you can (except sin) to make them stop, but if they keep happening, put your heart completely in the very good hands of Jesus.