I think because we cannot always answer hard questions like "Why did this happen to me?", Christians have come up with benign cliches, perhaps taken from scripture out of context, that we say to each other in an attempt to explain away the tragedy, sickness, and loss we may still experience even after we have accepted Christ's redemption for us on the cross.
"God has a reason for this..."
"God chose you to be a "special" mom..."
"God will only give us as much as we can handle..."
But I don't believe these statements are benign at all. In fact they give the impression that God causes tragedy, sickness, and loss for our good or so we will grow closer to him. It seems Christians accept and almost embrace the ick that happens to us as a blessing rather than a curse. But we know the difference between blessings and curses because many are listed in Deuteronomy 28.
So I don't know if tragedy, sickness, and loss are from God to teach us a lesson. Maybe they were under the Old Covenant - before Jesus, but we are under the New Covenant - and Christ redeemed us from the curse. Maybe God might allow things to happen and will bring about good for His own through them, but I don't know if He causes them to happen. I wonder if its all just a result of living in a fallen world, results of our own actions, or maybe Satan asked God permission to sift us like wheat. I wonder if we should hate these things and draw on the power of the Holy Spirit given to us by Jesus to rebuke/resist these things while in the midst of turning to Him for healing and restoration.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. Galatians 3:13-14Just thinking out loud...
