Jimbo's Jots

“Why did they have to die at such a young age?”

“Why did I have to go through this?

“How come God didn’t answer my prayer to heal him?”

“Why would God allow that baby to be born with so many difficulties?”

These are questions from some very faithful people. These people have some very good questions too. It’s not too often that I feel that I’m at a loss for words. But in trying to answer questions like these, I’m often asking those questions myself. I often have to reply, “I really don’t know.”

To maybe fully understand these questions, maybe we need to look briefly at some other questions:

1. “Did God cause this to happen?” In short, probably not. But he does allow life events to happen. Look at the story of Job when you get a chance. Many times, we don’t know the “behind the scenes” activities that play out. There are spiritual forces both of the good and the evil that play in. Think about your favorite television show or play. We only see the finished product. We don’t see what the directors and actors do in order to prep for the show. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes in order to create the type of show that pulls us in.
2. “How come, it seems to me, that God doesn’t answer my question?” It appears to me that we often only question God when something in our life doesn’t seem fair. I was counseling with a young woman whose fiancé recently has passed away after a second bout with cancer. She kept saying, “Why do I feel like God didn’t answer my prayer?” And it was something that we wrestled with together. We eventually began to work on her trust in God not to give her all of the answers, but to see Him still working through her.

As I continue to help people sort through the questions, I remind them that God is sovereign. Simply put, God is in charge! If we truly pray, “Your will be done!”, then we have to trust God being in charge.

It’s also important to remind them that God never promised that we wouldn’t face more than we could handle. (Some have repeated this several times!) His promises are that He would never leave us or forsake us, that He would take on our burdens, and that will walk us every day of our lives even through those “I don’t know” moments.

May we all learn to “trust in the Lord and not lean on our own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5)!

Be blessed and be a blessing!