WHY?
Why is it that every single line I get in, ends up taking longer than all the other lines even though mine looks shorter? Why don’t guys ever ask for directions? Not many people realize the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years because Moses wouldn’t ask for directions! O.K. …… It doesn’t actually say that in the Bible. Why do girls go to the bathroom in groups? I’ve never heard a guy come up to a table and ask, “Who wants to go to the bathroom with me?”
Why is it that I graduated #1 in my high school (no, I wasn’t home schooled!) and university, have a Masters Degree and over 25 years of full-time ministry experience yet some years my combined housing, insurance and salary income have been around poverty level? Why has God been so faithful to take care of all my needs and bless me beyond anything I deserve? – Philippians 4:19
Why do parents argue and get a divorce? Why do good people have bad things happen to them? Why do dynamic men of God like my friend Rich Mullins die at an early age? Why ask why? “People say its not fair that people should die when they’re 18, I say its unfair that we should be [privileged] to live until we’re that old!” – Rich Mullins
Sometimes it all seems like some cosmic injustice! There are so many questions that I’m sure we’ll never have the answer to on this planet. I think my favorite C.S. Lewis quote is what he thought his 1st words would be when he got to heaven …… “Of course!” I Corinthians 13:12 says that we only know in part now, but then we will know fully. Isaiah 55:8-9 says that as far as the heavens are above the earth, that is how far God’s thoughts are above ours. I have always been an analytical person who wants to know answers to everything. I want to share some of the things God has shown me about the ‘whys’ but ultimately we have to remember that we will never understand it all this side of heaven.
God is the ultimate chess Master. When the enemy makes a move, God is infinitely able to counter that evil move with an even greater move that brings good for all eternity (Romans 8:28). I have heard Joni Erickson share how she is now glad that she had the accident that paralyzed her. She said that as a result of this temporary, physical limitation she is now SO much stronger spiritually than she ever would have been had it not happened. She tells people that the eternal benefits which will last forever are much more important than the physical things which we see and are only temporary anyway. Fanny Crosby, the great hymn writer, was once asked if she had the choice would she rather not have been born blind. She said that she would not change a thing because when she gets to heaven the very 1st thing her eyes will ever see will be the beautiful face of her Savior Jesus!
Genesis 50:20 also illustrates this principle explaining why all the bad things happened to Joseph …… his own family sold him into slavery! The verse says that the things they meant for evil toward him, God used for good to ultimately end up saving him and his whole family. I have a friend in a similar situation who wrote me from prison:
“But I’m here, in spite of all of our prayers. Now this could be a colossal mistake in God’s plan, which means He is careless, distracted, inefficient and weak? Or alternatively, the enemy hijacked the plan and Jehovah can’t turn it all to good? Or, He is the Master of All Existence, the Lord of Hosts, and even if we don’t understand it all, everything is going to be all right.
Why am I HERE? And perhaps, more than the why, is, does the “why” even matter? We spend SO much time on the “why” of things, and is knowing the why really our job? If we’re walking uprightly in conformity with God’s laws, how active do we get when our circumstances take a huge turn for the worse? I mean, Abraham didn’t try to take an alternate sacrifice, right? Job didn’t call State Farm to put in a claim and rebuild the flattened houses, or buy a bunch of replacement livestock or immediately start chasing Mrs. Job around to replace the kids. He sat in the ashes. And Joseph ….. didn’t he at some point, accrue the wealth, power, and status, to either claim his freedom, buy it, or effect an escape, and fly to freedom to go home? But, he didn’t ….. [We need] to care less about getting OUT of prison, and more about being like Jesus.”
The 1st couple chapters of the book of Job are a graphic example of the horrible things that can happen to someone. It would seem bad enough for those things to happen to the average human, but they happened to a “good” man who served God with all his heart. Sometimes we expect preferential treatment because we are God’s children but the Bible tells us that it rains on the good and the bad (Matthew 5:45). Behind the scenes we find out that God was demonstrating to the devil that Job did not just follow God because He had blessed him or done good things for him. C.S. Lewis once wrote that when the storms of life hit us, that is when we truly find out if our “house” is built on a deck of playing cards or the solid unshakable faith of God. Lewis didn’t exactly say it like that, but you get the idea – read his book “The Problem of Pain”.
Job did not curse God like some suggested he do but rather said, “I came into this world with nothing, I’ll leave it with nothing ….. blessed be the name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21). He also realized all the trials would make him stronger and in the end he would come out like purified gold (Job 23:10). That’s why James 1: 2-4 says we should rejoice in those trials. In the end, Job not only came out stronger spiritually but God blessed him greater physically as well. To me, the interesting part of the whole book is that it never says that Job ever realized what was going on behind the scenes with the heavenly confrontation between God and the devil. He asked God “Why?” but God’s only reply was questions like, “Where were you when I formed the oceans and created the mountains and the stars? Do you think you know better than me?” (Job 37-41) Though Job never knew “Why?” he still followed God!
Of course, the ultimate example of cruel things happening to a good person is the way Jesus was treated on earth …… and the way we still treat Him at times. God could have destroyed those crucifying and torturing His only Son, yet He knew a MUCH greater good would come out of it if He did not interfere. Jesus FELT deserted on the cross as He quoted from Psalm 22, “My God, my God, WHY …… ” yet in the end He was not abandoned, as I’m sure He knew the end of that Psalm as well.
We sometimes forget that there is a spiritual battle going on behind the scenes. Hebrews 2:14 was a comforting verse to me after my father died, much too early, many years ago. The Bible says that death is an enemy, not good, and Jesus came to earth to destroy the one who holds the power of death, which is the devil. I realized it was not accurate to blame God or shake my fist at Him and say Why? The devil is the one using death to try and destroy faith in God, relationships with other people, etc. God was not reaching down and killing my Dad to teach me some lesson but was hurting with me in the pain.
I don’t know all the ‘whys’. Sometimes pain and trials may be God’s megaphone to get our attention, as C.S. Lewis said. Sometimes the adversary is trying to shake our faith in God. And sometimes when our car won’t start at that very important time, it may not have anything to do with God or the devil. Maybe the battery is dead! I do know it is alot easier to intellectually write answers to the why questions than to stay strong and endure in the midst of the tough times. We often know the right things in our head but it is tougher to actually live it out day to day. I think that the more we read about the trials of God’s people in the Bible and in other Christian books, and read of their faith in the midst of those tough times, the stronger we will be in our faith. And sometimes we just need to fasten our seatbelts, grit our teeth and pray for God’s grace to hold onto us during those dark times when we can’t see any light at the end of our tunnel.
I hope and pray that this has been some help and encouragement and maybe even a little enlightenment on such a complex and deep issue. Stay tuned for part three of this article when we’ll discuss the Eschatology of the book of Esther!
