"No pain, no gain." This might be true in physical training, but it is not Biblical. "With pain can come gain" is Biblical.
Have you ever wondered why you or people you know have "bad things" happen to them? Illness, financial disastors, natural disasters, a broken toe, family division, a car accident, etc. The list of "bad things" is endless from small to big. It is impossible to have an answer for all of them, but here are a few that might apply.
1. We are sinners living in a sinful world
It is important to remember when God created this world, there were no "bad things."
"God saw that everything He had made, and it was very good." (Genesis 1:31a) Again, there were no bad things! However, when Adam and Eve sinned their just punishment resulted in "nature" consequences (Genesis 3:17-18) and physical maladies that would end in death (Genesis 3:19). Even now the natural disasters continue. Even now the aging process leading to death is evident as our bodies decline physically over the years. But be encouraged! Through the death and resurrection of Christ, "...we know if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." (II Corinthians 5:1)
2. God's disciplining hand
God loves us and when we defy His will, He can and should discipline us. "My son do not despise the chastening of the Lord... for whom the Lord loves He chastens." (Hebrews 12:5a & 6a) Any father who fails to discipline his children is condemning them to a life of "sin approval" and misery. It is a loving father who reveals to his children there are consequences that accompany disobedience. God is such a loving Father. It is certainly appropriate in the midst of a painful situation to consider if it is the result of divine discipline.
3. Sometimes we do dumb things
You get up in the night to get a drink, fail to turn on the light, kick a chair and break a toe. You are talking on the cell phone while you drive and casually drive into a ditch. Let's face it, sometimes we do dumb things. "The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty." (Proverbs 27:12) Even if we are prudent most of the time, those "simpleton" moments can be quite painful.
4. God uses them to glorify Himself
"Then the Lord said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.'" Job 1:8 While Job's friends declared the "bad things" that happened to him to be God's punishment on his sin, we know God used Job's faith and pain to bring Himself glory. People are often quick to declare the "bad things" that happen to other poeple to be God's judgment on their sin; however, one possibility is actually just the opposite - it is happening as a testimony to the person's faith and God's power.
5. God uses them to drive us to Himself
How easy it is for us to become oblivious to our need for God. Yet, our merciful God will either allow the outcomes of self-determination to drive us to Himself or actually create the circumstances that accomplish the same. "Come to Me all you who are burdened and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 It might be the heathen who come to the end of themselves and finally accept Jesus' invitation to come to Him while experiencing such "bad things." It might be the believer who has strayed from trusting the Lord that is being challenged to return. The scenarios are numerous.
6. God uses them to grow us
"No pain, no gain." This might be a true statement in physical training, but it isn't really Biblical. "With pain can come gain" is Biblical. "And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perserverance; and perserverance character; and character, hope." Romans 5:3-4
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