WHY… WHO?
Hello Saints, it's been a week!
Daddy, Daddy, why is that boy in a wheelchair? Daddy, why did that bird have to die? Daddy, why does Suzy have no father? Is the need to know ‘why’ part of our inquisitive human nature? Is it even part of the image of God in us to want to know answers to life’s troubling and confounding seasons of life? Why do people die young? Why is there so much disease, death and destruction – why so much suffering? Can we be like little children with God our Father, tugging at His coat tail to try to get Him to answer our ‘whys’? I have had many experiences in the last twenty years of pastoring where people have cried out, “why?”: like when parents have just lost their first baby at birth; when newly weds are suddenly separated by death; when people lose everything to financial hardship; divorce, death, sickness, war, etc. To ask ‘why’ is human! Sometimes we are made to feel guilty for asking ‘why’ – where is our faith? We are to be like the soldiers of the Light Brigade who simply utter: “ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do and die”. Blindly following and obeying seems to be rewarded, while questioning is frowned upon. Is that the way it is supposed to be? Is it wrong to ask ‘why’? We are after all, thinking human beings endowed with intelligence, reason, rationality, and understanding. Often the ‘whys’ lead to the greatest revelations. I agree that it is the Christian duty to just follow Jesus and surrender, no matter where He leads, and abandon our need to question. But pastorally, as we are carrying each other’s burdens, can we not allow people their ‘why’ moments as they sit in dust and ashes? I can affirm that, “God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways” (Isa. 55:8). He always knows what He is doing, and why? Can we not still have faith in an all-knowing, all-powerful God, and yet ask ‘why’? I believe that God can handle our ‘whys’, for even God in the flesh, asked God the Father, “why?”.
The great Moses questioned God, “Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me?” (Ex. 5:22). When things don’t go as we expected, especially when we really sensed that God has told us to do such and such, and the outcome is totally different, or there is near unbearable results, is it wrong to ask, “why”? Why are there promises of abundant life, joy, peace, pleasures for ever more, blessings for obedience, and adversely the results of obeying are heart crushing disappointment and sorrow. “Why does it have to be this way? I thought I was in your will.” Ultimately, one knows that God has a plan and purpose for everything (Rom. 8:28), we just need to be patient. But…when you are watching someone go through their Job experience, wondering “why did I not die at birth” (Job 3:11), uttering, “I can’t take it anymore…just let me die already!” As a friend and brother in the Lord, one feels helpless, unable to assist, and niceties like “God has a plan – He won’t leave you” seem so untimely, even though true. And the truth falls on deaf ears as they cry out like David and Jesus, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me!” (Ps. 22:1). See friends, fellow followers of Jesus, what I am saying is, can we just let people have their “why” moments without replying with a theological treatise on suffering? If we just sit and listen, the real question is not ‘why’, it’s “God…where are you; are You still there?” Like David and Jesus, the heart cries: “My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me? Why do you remain so distant? Why do you ignore my cries for help?2 Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief” (Psalm 22:1-2 NLT). The anonymous Psalm speaks for all of us in our darkest moments, “O LORD, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I need you the most?” (Psalm 10:1NLT). Some people are in such despair and darkness that even if an angel showed up as in the case of Gideon and said, “Mighty hero, the LORD is with you!”, there would still be no relief. The ‘why’ would still flow from the sufferer’s lips: “If the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn't they say, 'The LORD brought us up out of Egypt'? But now the LORD has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.” (Judges 6:12-13). When life doesn’t make sense; when the plan is gone and the outcome is unexpected, sometimes “why?” is the best response! We need to let people have their ‘why’ moments! This psalm was sung by David’s choir, “O LORD, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will my enemy have the upper hand? Turn and answer me, O LORD my God! Restore the light to my eyes, or I will die” (Psalm 13:1-3 NLT). Deep down, through the pain is heard the cry, “WHY?”. Do you feel the pain and anguish? Do you sense the despair and discouragement! For months…waiting for the healing, the miracle, the deliverance, the answer to the prayers…and nothing! You confess the word, you make declarations, you name it and claim it and remind God of 1John 5:14-15 and still…nothing! The whispering ‘why?’ is now a battle cry! And as the days, and months, and even years go on, you realize you are still in the fight. In the ‘battle for meaning’ are the everlasting arms of the Father! Supernaturally, you discover like the Apostle Paul, “Since I know it is all for Christ's good, I am quite content with my weaknesses and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2Cor. 12:10); and you hear the Father’s still small voice whisper, ‘My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.’ Like Paul you answer, "So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me” (2Cor. 12:9). In the midst of the suffering and the questioning and the anguish of soul, even though you may not have an answer to the ‘why?’, you realize the far greater question that was never asked, “who are you Lord” is answered. As Jeremiah discovered when his friends turned on him, he was beaten and placed in stocks, and he felt like God was even against him, as he was living his Job moment, he realizes, “The Lord is with me like a mighty warrior” (Jer. 20:11). Sometimes we need to let people go through their ‘why’s’ so they can discover ‘Who’ is with them in the middle of the storm. The best thing we can do is sit with them in silence until the revelation and deliverance comes. In our ‘why’ moments, is that not what we would want – someone to quietly journey with us into discovering the Omnipotent, Omniscient One who truly never leaves nor forsakes us, even though it may feel like it sometimes. Even as the Son of God cries ‘Why’ from the cross on Friday, He has to wait till Sunday for ‘Who’ to deliver Him from death. Let’s allow people their ‘why’ so they can discover ‘Who’ God really is!
Peace and Joy to you all!
"Advancing the Kingdom of God by releasing Spirit-filled followers to serve Jesus in freedom and joy."
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