When We Don't Understand Why

Revelation 21:4 – “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

 This past week has been riddled with tragedy.  From the school shooting in Texas to the child here in Cheyenne who made the choice to end his own life.  When things like this happen I am left broken hearted and crying out to God “why”?

I think about our ministry and I see the faces of the hundreds of children who attend Ekidz each week, and I wonder are we are doing enough to protect them from such pain.  How do we talk to them about such tragedy when we can’t even understand it ourselves?

In my own home, these tragedies and others like them have dominated our conversations this week.  The stories of bullying, substance abuse and depression in our kids and in our schools, makes me want to lock my kids in our home and protect them from all of it.   Everything in me wants to never talk about it, act like it isn’t happening, because what can I say, when I don’t even understand why?

For us, but especially for our children, it is difficult to understand how a loving and gracious God would allow so many bad things to happen.  When I struggle with the “Why” I am reminded of something I once read, “Jesus is not the bridge over troubled waters.  But He will pull you through the troubled waters if you can stand the tow.”

Take a moment to reflect on all the “Why” moments in your life.

When you faced your own troubled waters did you plead with God to rescue you from them?  How often have you faced in life hardships and prayed for God to change it, to end it, to take it away, to rescue you, to relieve you of this burden?  How many times has he actually answered the prayer in that way?  My guess would be a precious, few if any.

When we are faced with the “Why” we often look at our circumstances from our own place of pain and discomfort.  When we don’t get the answers we seek, and if our faith and foundation in God are not solid, the devil will seize the opportunity and place doubt in our hearts.  In John 16:33 Jesus reminds us to not lose hope.  “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me.  Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”     

Tragedy and pain are all around us. All you have to do is turn on the news for 5 minutes and you can get your fill of death and destruction.  I long for the day when Christ returns and dries our tears and conquers pain forever, but until that day arrives we are still left to answer the question “why?”

 The simple answer is sin.  We live in a world that belongs to the devil and the more that the truth of God’s love, grace and forgiveness spread throughout the world, the harder the devil is going to try to keep control.  I can’t tell you when Christ is going to return, but I can promise that it is going to get worse before it gets better. 

Right now is the time to prepare our hearts and minds for the “why”.  Believing in God does not protect us from bad things happening, but it does give us a soft place to fall when they do.  Take shelter in God’s promises, find peace through prayer, and build your strong foundation in Him. 

I will never have an answer as to why tragedies happen or why good people have bad thing happen to them. I will never understand why innocent children die or why things happen to us that never should.  But I do know as someone who has not always believed in God, that tragedy, loss, and pain are a lot easier to go through with God then without Him.

Remember that God doesn’t usually rescue us out of troubles, but He does rescue us in them and through them.  Through God’s sovereign grace, we may say “I never want to go through that again” but most of the time we can look back and say, “I’m glad that I did go through it because of what God did in me in the midst of it” and that’s the way He rescues us.

Don’t allow the world to write the dialog as to how you feel, think or respond to the tragedies that surround us. Instead continue to respond through grace and love pointing the lost and hurting to Jesus.  Someday, hopefully very soon one of the Bible’s final promises to us will be fulfilled. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” But until then, continue to pray and build your strong foundation in Him.