How can ye, being evil, speak good things?Matthew 12:33-37, “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things…For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” Among us there are those who have a propensity for kindness when considering man’s fallen state. Some think that mankind is in a totally depraved condition and lacks no ability to fully develop any evil thought, word, or deed. Then, the contradistinctive position is assumed that we are good beings that are getting a bad deal through no fault of our own (Adam) and God has since apologized by sending His son to die for us and we are all eventually going to live forever with God in bliss. In the mean time, the world is rampant with sin and not getting better. In our day we are overrun with books and tapes explaining the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” We must admit that unpleasant things happen all the time to people who appear undeserving. Contrariwise we must admit that pleasant things happen to people who appear undeserving, unappreciative and unthankful and even unaware of any heavenly Father of lights from whom the good and perfect gifts come.Ecclesiastes 8:14 says that this is an empty, or vain thought, “There is a vanity [waste of time] which is done upon the earth; [to consider] that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is [a waste of time] vanity.” There are a couple of points to keep in mind when considering these hard questions about the good and bad happening to all, that don’t seem to surface in the discussions on “why.” One point is that bad things don’t happen to good people. There are no good people. “ALL we like sheep have gone astray, EVERY one of us has turned to his own way.” (Isaiah 53:6) All have sinned and come short, all have missed the mark. Jesus Himself said, There is none good – but God. Is this a technicality? Is this inapplicable when considering whether man is good or not, whether he deserves bad things or not? We must not look at the “bad things” as getting what we deserve as much as fruit that has come to the tree. We must make either the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt or make the tree good and the fruit good, but we cannot say that a good tree is bringing forth corrupt fruit. In Matthew 5:45, Jesus taught that we should bless and give gifts as God does, revealing that God gives the good things of life to all – without partiality. Life is indeed a gift from God. What if the rain only fell on the crops of those who love Him? “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Here we see the impartial loving favor of God, but what about the unpleasant things? In Ecclesiastes 2:14, where he was considering the fate of fools and wise he said, “… I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.” The only thing that separates God’s people from the rest is how the disaster is handled, not whether or not it comes. “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the...

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