​Why Do Things Happen?

I addressed this in, Everything happens for a Reason and I believe what I have written there, but there are more elements of truth I have not mentioned yet, and some I probably am not aware of.
Some things happen in our lives because of laws that our creator put in place such as sowing and reaping, equal and opposite reaction, honour your parents and things will go well with you, and judge not lest you be judged. These laws were meant to protect us or bless us, but with sin in the world they can have negative effects on us as well. They are impersonal, meaning God is not saying ok, because you did this, this will happen to you. These laws are similar to the law of gravity.  Gravity is there, if we ignore or choose not to believe it, we will fall anyway. 

There is also reaping from our past generations. This is where some inherited weaknesses come from (which are also called hereditary curses). Other things can be handed down a family line too. I don’t fully understand this but we see things go down through the generations like that and it is written about in Numbers 14:18 (NKJV) Exodus 20:5 These are at the bottom of the page.
 
We also do have Father God working on us. When I was young I thought this meant if I did something wrong He was going to hit me with a bolt of lightning or punish me. I actually have a memory of the first time I swore, when I was about ten, I looked up to heaven and wondering if there was going to be a reaction. I have never been hit with a bolt of lightning or by the back of His hand. The more I’ve gotten to know Him the more I have learned what a loving Father He is.

If we are His children He does work on us the Bible says. He does discipline us because we are His children and He is refining us like with fire. Proverbs 3:11-12, Hebrews 12:4-12, 1 Peter 1:6-7, Zechariah 13:9 Psalms 66:10 These are found at the bottom of the page.

We do need to remember that He is a loving Father, who is disciplining and refining us. Kind of like the Father who says this hurts me more than it does you and knows the perfect pressure to put on us in order to see the changes needed. No more or less.

Why do we discipline our children?

He has the same reasons. I didn’t know what God’s discipline and refining looked like for a long time but when I look back I can see what He has done. I will explain.

For years, since birth really, I was an insecure, timid, frightened person. I may not have appeared that way but inside, a lot of the time, I really didn’t feel safe and comfortable in my own skin. I know part of that is growing up and growing as we go but this was a messed up version of normal. I do know some of the reasons.  My Dad passed away when I was six.  I had undiagnosed mono for over a year at the same time. I said this started at birth, I have had a medical condition, which is hereditary, since birth that has weakened and frustrated my system and there is an element of anxiety and depression that goes with it. It is kind of rare, someday I may explain it here. God did not give me this illness, I’m sure it came down the family line.

As I grew up and had a family, I found myself in lots of situations where I had to stand up for myself and my family and I didn’t have the guts to do it without tears, every time. Some of these situations were with doctors. I believed some things to be true about my family and the doctors and other important people in the situations didn’t see it. There were things I felt should be being done and those weren’t happening either. They would tell me to do the opposite of what I believed and knew to be the truth. I listened to these people and was swayed to do what they thought was right and then we would pay the consequences. Over and over again this happened.

Things got so bad I felt frustration every day. I was overwhelmed many times. I had to continue to stand up for what I believed. I did a lot of praying and things began to change. And I grew stronger. My faith grew both in my beliefs about my family and about God’s help in my problems. God revealed Himself to me in many ways, His still small voice, circumstances, perfectly timed programs and prophetic words would only be to name a few. Just knowing He was there and helping me made me stronger. 

His discipline came in the form of feelings inside of me when I would do something or react to something in a way He didn’t want me to. I hear Christians call this a check in their spirit. I learned to listen to God this way and my reactions have changed. I got so I felt calmer in situations and I could stand up for what I believed. Eventually, a number of years later, doctors and other official people began telling me I was right. By this time I didn’t need their validation but it was nice to finally hear it.

Now I can stand up for what I believe no matter what those believe around me. The whole world could believe something different and if I have the proof in my life and from God, you can look at my tightly wrapped fingers firmly gripped on what I believe and see that I’m not going to budge. And can now speak out about it without falling apart. My tears are now from looking at how amazing God is and seeing what wonderful miracles He has done for and in me. I don’t want to sound too ridged here, my beliefs can be changed but only if it is proven by His word or a revelation or check in my spirit about the truth in it. 

Why do things happen? I have learned about God’s laws and try not to violate them. I don’t want to reap from the negative things I might sow and I don’t want my children to reap from them either. I ask for forgiveness when I know I have violated those laws and thanks to God’s grace He forgives me.
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I love that God is working on me to make me stronger and to grow my faith. Nothing of what has happened to me will go to waste. In Romans 8:28 (NKJV) it says 28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
So He is working all things, even the bad, unpleasant, and frustrating things out for good for me.

Why do things happen?

We can see that there are a lot of reasons but something else I have learned is that by praying, through God’s grace, good things can happen, lots of them.

There is a lot to learn about this subject and it has been a question of mine since I was very young. Leave me a comment if you know of reasons things happen that I haven't mentioned here or in Everything happens for a reason(the link is at the bottom of the page). Or leave me a comment if you have a thought about the subject.  You can tell me to publish it or not to publish it. 
 
Numbers 14:18
 (NKJV)
18 ‘The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’[a] 
Exodus 20:5New King James Version (NKJV)
5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
 
Iniquity Bible meaning: “crookedness, perverseness,” "not an action, but the character of an action.” The phrase "bear iniquity" is a standing expression for bearing its consequences, i.e. its penalty; generally of the sinner bearing the results of his own iniquity” “but sometimes of one bearing the iniquity of another vicariously, and so taking it away.”
 
Proverbs 3:11-12 (NIV)
11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline,
    and do not resent his rebuke,
12 because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
    as a father the son he delights in.[a]
 
Hebrews 12:4-12 (NIV)
God Disciplines His Children
4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
    and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
    and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”[a]
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.
 
 
1 Peter 1:6-7 (NIV)
6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Psalm 66:10New King James Version (NKJV)
10 For You, O God, have tested us;
You have refined us as silver is refined
 
Zechariah 13:9 (NIV)
9 This third I will put into the fire;
    I will refine them like silver
    and test them like gold.
They will call on my name
    and I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are my people,’
    and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

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Everything Happens for a Reason