Why is it that every line I get in ends up taking longer than all the other lines even though mine looks shorter?
Why is it that when I spill my soft drink on the person in front of me at the San Diego Charger football game, it turns out to be Mike Tyson right when he's nibbling on an ear . . . of corn and a ventriloquist three rows back starts to say all kinds of ugly things through my mouth about his mother?
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 own a 2 lb. bag of cotton balls?
Why is it that I graduated #1 in high school and college (O.K., so maybe I did kidnap my teachers' pets and hold them hostage in exchange for good grades), have a Masters Degree and over 16 years of full-time ministry experience yet my combined yearly housing, insurance and salary income has never even reached $20,000? (See Matthew 8:20) I know what you teenagers are thinking . . . "Wow, think how many Nintendo video games you could play or buy with that kind of money!" Why has God been so faithful to take care of all our needs and bless us beyond anything we 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 Rich Mullins die at an early age (see last edition of the Perihelion)? Why do 3 teenagers in a prayer group at school in Paducah, KY get shot and killed? Why ask why?
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.
"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
In the very beginning, God had a choice in terms of freedom given to humans. He could have forced us all to do good and follow Him and love Him. However, God did not want "robots" loving Him because they had to. Would you rather have your child freely choose to love you or a child that said "I love you" because there was a gun to their head with no choice. Obviously, it is greater to have a child freely choose to love and obey rather than to be forced. In a similar way God wanted a human race to choose to love Him, but in that choice is also the freedom to choose not to love Him or obey Him . . . the freedom to do evil . . . the freedom to shoot 3 of His children when they are praying to Him. Sure God could have reached down and grabbed the gun out of Michael Carneal's hands, but He didn't want to force him to do good like some robot, plus He knew He could even bring a much greater eternal good out of it over the temporal pain and hurt. I was in Kentucky shortly after that tragedy and read some things in a Kentucky Christian paper which you probably didn't read in your local newspaper. Did you know that the next day at that prayer group before school, there weren't the usual 35 to 50? There were over 300! There was a rally 2 weeks later which raised $4,900 to help the 5 injured survivors with medical expenses and at that rally 22 people made professions of faith! The day after the shooting, there were banners hung around campus saying things like, "We forgive you, Michael, because God forgave us."
God is the ultimate chess Master. When the devil makes a move, God is infinitely able to counter that evil move with an even greater move which brings good for all eternity (Romans 8:28). I have heard Joni Erickson share how she is now glad that she had the accident which 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.
The book of Job is a graphic example of the horrible things that can
happen to someone (read the 1st couple chapters). 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 (El Ninos . . . Diablos)
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 (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, 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 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 says. Sometimes the enemy the devil 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 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 the next edition when we'll discuss the Eschatology of the book of Esther!