Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field.” - Genesis 3:17-18 NKJV.

As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside….” - Romans 3:10-12a NKJV.

For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. - 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 NKJV.

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. - Romans 8:28 NKJV.

This past week there was a freak accident in the Strait of Hormuz. A U.S. submarine collided with a U.S. transport ship, the USS New Orleans, and although the sub was fully submerged it was not deep enough to avoid the large transport ship. Aboard the submarine, the USS Hartford, 15 sailors were injured; but were released to return to duty. This was the nuclear-powered attack sub’s first deployment. Thankfully, there was no loss of life, and no damage to the nuclear reactor; both vessels survived the incident, although the collision did rupture one of the transport ship’s fuel tanks.

Accidents happen even with vessels whose captains and crews have received enormous amounts of training, and that have substantial electronic equipment available to help prevent collisions. It is likely that you have personally experienced a vehicle accident of some type yourself. I have been trying to remember the actual number of vehicle accidents I have been involved in. When I was a child, I was in a vehicle that was involved in an accident. I had three accidents while I was a teenager. Soon after I was married, I had three accidents in about a year’s time while we were living in Oklahoma City. A few years later I had another minor accident. In addition, I have been a witness to at least four accidents, possibly more.

All of the accidents had some things in common in that they were sudden, they were unpredictable, and they were painful at least psychologically if not physically. Besides vehicle accidents, I really cannot remember the number of times that I have been hurt physically in one way or another. I know it has been many times, although never severely. You can add up in your own life the number of accidents that you have had or seen others have, and know there is something that is true about this place called Earth upon which we live. That truth is that things happen, and although there are many good things that happen, there are also many bad things that are happening around us all the time.

Why do bad things happen? In the Garden of Eden, there were no bad things that happened, but that all changed when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. As a result of their sin, all of creation was corrupted, and bad things began to happen on Planet Earth. However, we have the promise of God that this will all someday be corrected, as we are told of that time in Isaiah 11:9, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” In Revelation 21:4, we are told more of this time when perfection will return to all of creation, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Until then, we have another promise of God for those who love Him, as we are told, “that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”