I was having a conversation with a friend this past Sunday about the concept of the hard questions in life...namely why? She and her husband are in the process of adopting. Everything for the room has been prepared and they are 200% ready. Yet, they have to wait. Why?
Why do we have to wait?I think it's a legitimate question that we need to ask. Who says that we have to keep the agonizing questions inside, sometimes to the point when it starts to turn us bitter. And that is Not good. I know that in the past, I have become bitter and disillusioned because I didn't feel like I could ask the questions that I really needed answered. And because I didn't ask, they grew to resentment and disdain for the circumstances. Why?
So, Sunday night my mom and I were watching one of our favorite television shows final episode. We had invested years into this program and at the end, we were left with a little disappointed and with questions left unanswered. Hundreds of thoughts ran through our minds as we tried to figure things out. Question after question after question...with no answers! Why?
We will always feel the need to have answers, but will we actually ask the questions? Or will we feel that our questions are too trivial to ask? I don't think they are...trivial. God wants us to ask why! Think about the years you spent as a toddler or if you're around toddlers now. When you begin to speak pretty much the only thing that comes out of your mouth is why. How inquisitive we are at even an early age. Wanting to know everything. Wanting to know why things are they way they are. Why is the sky blue? Why do I have to eat all my vegetables? And as we grow up...Why didn't I get that job? Why am I at this point in my life and miserable? Why did this person have to die? The unexplained has a huge effect on us.
When I was back in college, I had a summer job as a youth ministry intern at my home town church. That summer they sent me to a training retreat where I met other interns and youth ministers. I became friends with most everyone, but grew close with only a few. One of the guys that became a close friend was Donald. A few years older than I and full of God's love and light called to pour out into students in high school. Several years past, keeping in touch and continuing to grow even as everyone went in different directions in college. About two years later, Donald got a job doing youth ministry at a church in Corpus Christi. So another friend from the youth ministers camp and I moved Donald down to Corpus. I often talked with Donald as he made his trips to and from Houston to Corpus. I still remember getting to hear him witness to a cop that had pulled him over for speeding! Then one trip from Houston to Corpus in February of 2003 a drunk driver turned the wrong way onto the highway and hit Donald head on at 70 mph on an overpass where they couldn't see eachother before it was too late. Why? All that clouded my mind when I heard the news was why? Why Donald? Wasn't God using him to bless and minister to others? Why?
Why? Is the question that we ask when we don't understand. I know I ask this very question a lot! What we have to understand is that we may not understand everything! God understands, he already knows...it's okay to ask why because God will take it to grow you!
In Psalm 10:1 - The writer expresses honest doubts but did not stop praying. He was not complaining, but asking God why and to come and help during this difficult time.
The whole book of Job is why? Why did these things happen to Job? He asked God constantly and then let God show him why. And he will show us why!
Philippians 4:6 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present you requests to God. God wants us to come to him with the questions!
Psalm 3: 4 - To the Lord I cry aloud, and He answers me from his holy hill. Selah
Psalm 120:1 - I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me.
1 John 5:14 - This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
This last one is my favorite and the one to pay the closest attention to. First of all, we are to have confidence to approaching God. How awesome is that???!!! All we have to do is go to God with our questions. Sometimes that may sound easier said than done! But well worth it, if we can open our mouths to ask.
We can ask anything. There are no limits to what we can ask! The small things...why did I have to stub my toe or get a speeding ticket. To the bigger questions...why did my parents have to split up or why do i feel so alone?
But making sure that we are acknowledging His divine will! He is the one that knows the answers and we need to realize that it's not just about what we want to hear...our answer... but that we are open to hear what God's answer would be!
And lastly...He hears us! Our questions do not fall on deaf ears...they fall on God's ears!
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