Kethuvim

Why do bad things happen to good people?  

Why do evil people seem to prosper, when there are so many good people who struggle? 

Have you ever asked those questions?  Probably.  I know I have.  I used to ask that question a lot in high school, but it went something like this: "Why do all of the jerk guys get all of the hot girls, and the nice guys like me can't get a date?"  I've since made peace with that issue (it seems that the market for stick-like Screech look-a-likes is rather small), but I still, from time to time, ask a similar question.

Here's the basic summary of Joseph.  He was sold into slavery to a bunch of nomads by his brothers (he didn't really deserve it); the nomads them sell him to a wealthy official of the Egyptian Pharaoh.  While in this guy's house, he gets put in charge of everything because he was trustworthy.  The guy's wife wants Joseph's body, he declines her various offers.  She then lies to her husband and tells him that Joseph tried to sleep with her.  Joseph gets thrown in jail.  

While in jail, he gets put in charge of all of the prisoners.  The Pharaoh's vintner and baker get thrown in jail (apparently from making crappy wine and pastries).  These two guys have dreams and Joseph interprets them, telling the vintner that he will be restored to his position in three days, and telling the baker that in three days he'll have his head lopped off and his flesh fed to the birds (talk about a bad day, that guy's bread must have really sucked).  He tells the vintner to remember him when he is restored...he doesn't.

Eventually Joseph is made head of all Egypt by the Pharaoh and everything is fantastic, but, seriously, he endured a lot of crap for doing the right thing.  The thing I find fascinating is that he never blames anyone for his misfortune.  It's almost like he understands something about life that we don't; sometimes like sucks, it doesn't mean that we necessarily did anything to cause it.  

One of the coolest things about the story is how God imparts little snippets of grace in the midst of the ashes of Joseph's life.  Jesus has these words to say, "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."  In other words, we're all equal with God.  When we do good things, God doesn't owe us anything, he doesn't owe us a life free of pain.  When we do bad things, sometimes we have to soak in our own juices because of it, but God still loves us and is good to us.  

For what it's worth, this is why I don't agree with the idea of karma.  I know too many good people who get shafted, and too many bad people who seem to have everything go right for them.  I think people invented the idea of karma to make themselves feel better.  "They'll get theirs, karma will come back to get them."  It just isn't true.  I think we should strive to do good, not for a reward, but to make the world a better place and to be a better human being. 

We need to face the fact that sometimes life just isn't fair.  God didn't create it that way, but being the bunch of screw-ups that we are, we've made it that way.  Just know that, whatever it may look like, God is always faithful.  He came down here in the form of a man 2000 years so that he could experience just how not fair this place can be.  And we obliged by showing him in a pretty violent way.