O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? [Habakkuk 1:2]
Most of us have questioned God at some point in our lives. Some traumatic, heart-breaking event happened to us and we simply could not believe God would allow it to happen. “Why, God, why?” A hurricane or a tornado devastates an area; folks lose their lives and their homes. “Why, God, Why? Earthquakes, or tsunamis, or plagues kill thousands. Innocent children and families killed in horrible wars. Murders, rapes, people tortured, hate. “WHY, GOD, WHY?”
I confess I have asked the question. My mother died at an early age form A.L.S. My father battled alcoholism and died in a car accident. And the most traumatic event of any parent’s life; my 16-year-old daughter died. Yes, I cried out, “Why?” I cried out a lot of things without ever hearing an answer.
I never heard an answer because there isn’t one, not one our earthly minds can understand. Everyone dies, and the Bible tells us that only God knows the day. He knows it all, and has known before the dawn of time. We can’t understand that, but we can believe it. I do, and once I resolved myself to that truth my “Whys” stopped.
Instead, I praise God for His perfect grace that has given me the strength to carry on and the faith to believe that there is a purpose for all of it. I even believe “that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” [Romans 8:28] I have lived the truth of that verse, and as time goes by I see it more clearly.
It is not an easy thing to accept. A mother and father standing over the grave of their child find it very hard to see any good in it, or any reason for it. But if they are ever going to find any measure of peace they must believe it. The “good” will become apparent if we find ways to help others who have experienced the same tragedy. We will see the good if we believe that our child is in a better place – a place with no suffering or fear or grief. Our child is in a far better place than this earth, isn’t that “good”?
Why did our child have to die before we did? That is the most painful part of the tragedy. I ask myself this, “Would I want her to suffer the agony of my death?” She will never have to grieve for me, or her mother or sisters or any loved one. She will never have to grieve at all. Isn’t that “good”?
We tend to question God for the hurtful things, the tragic things. Think about this. Do we ever question Him for the good things? Why did you create me? Why do you sustain me? Why did you create this beautiful planet with all its majesty and splendor, a place with just the right physical properties to enable us to live?
You know what the answer to those questions would be? Because I love you. As difficult as it is to understand, the answer to all our “why God why” questions would be the same. Why? I don’t know, I just praise Him that he does love us, and He loves us unconditionally. Why does He love us so much, because He IS love. He sent Jesus to prove it. Do you know Jesus as Savior? If you do, you will go to heaven; and all your questions will be answered in full. Pretty cool, huh?
“Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”
[1 Corinthians 13:12]