A spouse is driving to work and is killed in an auto accident; a best friend dies from skin cancer that spread throughout his body; a child drowns while swimming in a pool. All three are such tragic events that would cause one's heart to ache with unbearable pain. And during such times one of the most common questions asked--perhaps screamed--is "WHY?" Our finite minds wish to grasp and comprehend why such devastating tragedies occur. We desperately demand an explanation, from God, from ourselves, from whomever. We cannot live with the pain unless we have a justification. Yet, perhaps, could it be that the one question we so adamantly demand is the one question that we need not ask?
Why might this be so? I believe this is so because the answer to the question of "why" is an answer that has no bearing whatsoever on how we ought to live life and how we view God. God does not change regardless of what tragedies occur in our lives. The pain we experience as a result of tragedies or sin does not negate or undermine God's character. The most common reaction from people in response to pain in their life is an immediate doubting and questioning of God's love and goodness. I now firmly believe the sooner we stop asking "why" the more at peace we can be with pain in our lives. For in abandoning the question "why," we can much sooner truly and wholly believe and cling to the inescapable truth about the unchanging character of the Lord our God.
Frankly, we do not need to know why something has happened. We do not need to know that it was for a greater good, or that somehow we were spared from much deeper pain or greater problems, or even that one day we will understand the cosmic reasoning behind the pain in our lives. All we need to know is that God is loving, good, gracious, merciful, faithful, and perhaps most importantly, sovereign and infinitely wise. If we know this, then we can go through hell itself and have our hope and faith be unshaken. God is not obligated to give us an explanation, and we have no right to demand one of him. If we are confident in the character of our God, then there is a deep peace in the most painful of circumstances, because our confidence, hope, and faith are based on the unchanging character of God. He is our gracious, loving Father, and we as his children can rest peacefully in his arms.
Monday, September 04, 2006
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