We’ve all encountered situations where the inevitable question has arisen—“Why, God?” Whether out of anger, frustration, puzzlement, hurt, pain, sorrow, or pure confusion, we naturally question God when we don’t understand something or don’t like the way a situation has turned out. “Why?” “How could this have happened?” Or more directly, “How could YOU have LET this happen??” Even if we don’t mean or want to blame God, we still want to know why…we still want to understand.
Recently a five-year-old boy who started coming to my church sometime last year through our bus ministry lost his fight with cancer. We all knew it was coming… He had been in the final stages of the illness for a while and the doctor had said that he could “go” any day. Just over an hour before this young boy went home to be with the Lord, I lay in bed saying my nightly prayers. I asked God to “take care of” the child…heal him if it was His will to do so…and especially to keep His hand on the family members and give them peace no matter what was to happen. Of course I didn’t know then that the young boy would be called home so very soon after that.
Undoubtedly the questions began instantly, asked by family, friends, acquaintances, and those who were touched by the heartache of the boy’s life having ended so prematurely. It is during situations like this that even firmly grounded Christians ask why, taken aback by the irony and sorrowful injustice of the world. Why? It’s just so difficult for us to comprehend the reason that a young child should be survived by both his parents, his grandparents, and everyone else he knew and loved… That he should die of cancer and leave this world behind at the age of five is far beyond the grasp of our human understanding.
At this time I have to consider the story of Job and how in the last few chapters God showed Job that His ways and reasons for the way things turn out are superior to ours. Not only are they superior, but the possibility of us being able to fully understand them is extremely unlikely. Try as we may, our knowledge and understanding--our wisdom and insight--just can’t reach the level of God’s will and plans. His ways are higher than ours are and we have a limited understanding and incomplete perspective when it comes to trying to reason out or explain certain things. We may not see the whole picture… But God does, and He has things under control. He has promised us many things…that He will never leave us nor forsake us, that not one hair from our heads will fall without His knowing, that He has our best interest in mind, that all things WILL work for the good of those who love Him, that we will not be tempted or tried beyond what we can bear, and a number of other things as well. And even when we don’t know why something has happened, we do know one thing: there is a reason and God is still in control.
Of course, the example I’ve given is tragic and pretty “big” when it comes to situations that we are tempted to question God about. But there are other smaller things that cause us to ask “why?” more regularly. Whatever the situation, we still have to trust God and put our faith in Him when problems that are hard to understand arise. It’s not wrong to question God and ask Him why things happen. But when we question, we have to be careful not to allow ourselves to begin doubting God’s power or control. Ultimately, our questions need to lead us to try to understand the situation better and gain insight on God’s will and perfect plan.
Question to either find answers or come to a conclusion that you can rest in. No answers ever turn up when you question without an open heart and mind as well as a willingness to come to terms with whatever situation you are questioning. The other thing is that you have to be willing to accept the answer when it comes (from God), even if you don’t like it. Job questioned His situation, and God did answer Him…God reminded Job that HE was in complete control over everything in the entire universe. It may have sounded like a rebuke to Job, but at least he received an answer to his questions. Next time you are tempted to question God about something, consider this: Are you questioning because you want an answer, because you want to understand the situation, or because you just want to complain? Questing is an important part of life and growing in Christ, but be sure that your questions are constructive and not destructive.
Asking why is something that we can’t always avoid—and shouldn’t avoid either. But even in the toughest situations—like the young boy from my church passing away recently—we can’t allow our questions to draw us away from God when He is our Comforter and source of strength. We have to rely on Him and learn from the situation…keep trusting and allow God to heal the pain, comfort our hearts, and help us to look past the surface and see the bigger picture. We may not be able to understand why certain things happen, but if we trust God we will find that He does know what is going on. And we may even see that He is able to work for the good even when it’s hard to believe that any good could possibly come from the situation. But whether we ever come to understand or see the good, if we can reach the point where we recognize that God is in control and if we can find peace no matter what happens, then we’ll be okay in the situations that come our way. And if we can learn from our questions instead of letting them destroy us and our belief in God, then we’ll see the answers to our questions in one form or another in pretty much any situation that we come in contact with.
-HK
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