Everything May Happen for a Reason...

“Everything happens for a reason.”

I’m sure you’ve heard that phrase and, as many people do, you might even love it. However, I find it incomplete and unpersuasive. Everything may happen for a reason, but sometimes the only reason is to let you know it didn’t have to happen that way. To some, even that revelation does not diminish the significance of the phrase. But if you’ve made a commitment to live for God wholeheartedly, I argue it is especially lacking.

One reason the phrase is questionable is that it’s often used to dismiss poor choices without taking full responsibility for them. We often take pride in the fact that God brought us through difficult situations that were the result of wrong turns we took in our lives. Dating the wrong guy or girl? Isolating yourself from friends who were trying to steer you in the right direction? Neglecting responsibilities (eg. school or work) for illegitimate reasons? These are all situations we can ultimately learn from, but usually at a price. Chances are we are less likely to make the same mistake (except maybe with the relationship thing, but don’t get me started), but that doesn’t mean what we did was in God’s plan. It’s important to realize that it is God’s character to turn the mistakes his children make from “lemons into lemonade.” The popular verse Romans 8:28 makes essentially the same point: “And we know all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.” These words may be comforting, but they should not be an excuse for us not to change our negative behaviors.

It’s also important to note there’s a difference between God allowing or creating a difficult situation and working it out and us creating a difficult situation that he turns positive (although technically anything that happens he allows, but I’m trying not to be too technical). A biblical example of a difficult situation God either allowed or created (I’m saying both because I think the exact answer is more theologically nuanced than I’m prepared to be) is the story of Joseph. In Genesis 50, Joseph, now an Egyptian ruler, says to his brothers who sold him into slavery, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (v. 20).

Compare Joseph’s story to one about King Saul in I Samuel. In it Saul tries to dismiss his choice to ignore God’s exact instructions about conquering another people group. His rationale is that although he didn’t do exactly what God asked, in the end Saul gave Him the best cattle of his plunder. But in I Samuel 15:22 Samuel responds: "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”

Further, look at the story of David. In the end we know him as “a man after God’s own heart” (I Samuel 13:14) who was blessed immensely, but he also faced consequences for the poor choices he made that, even by his own admission, could have been avoided (II Samuel 12). These distinctions are important to make regarding our own relationships with God.

Ultimately, when we choose to follow God, we have to decide how serious we want to be about our faith. The goal should not be just to pass into heaven based only on accepting Jesus as Savior; it should be to reach for the rewards. A measure of how serious our faith should be is the way we often approach other commitments. For example, school. Would you really call a semester successful if at the end of it your transcript displayed straight Ds? You’d likely acknowledge passing the class, but not that you were proud of your performance.

Yet with our relationships with God, we often think it’s okay to have mediocre marks. We claim the name of God on Sunday, name Jesus and the Bible as our interests, and wear crosses around our necks. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with this—if we love him, we should claim his name, but that isn’t all we should do. Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If any man comes after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me daily.” That means that every hour, we are asked to put every sin aside—the urge to make a poor decision, a wrong turn—and live for what it is we say we believe. In the context of this life, the choice is considered “radical”, but the truth is that we are asked to follow the One who knows everything and can make our lives better than we ever could on our own.

Everything may happen for a reason, but that doesn’t mean our self-evaluation should stop there. It should not be enough that we learn from making bad decisions, but that we initially choose God’s best. That’s certainly better than my best.