Almost every believer I know has said this: Why God? Why did you allow this?

Is it My Fault?

Almost every believer I know has said this at one time or another: “Why God? Why did you allow this?” When asked this question so many times over the years, I’ve still not figured it out. I’ve told them honestly, “I don’t know…but God does.” I don’t know why some people seem to suffer more or go through more trials than others. Some of it may be sin, but most I believe is not brought upon by the person suffering. In other words, it’s not their fault that they’re suffering. God’s not punishing them, as some believe, to get back at them for doing something in the past. God forgives our sins and it’s over. We may suffer from some of the consequences of our sins, but God will not keep punishing us over and over again for something He has forgiven. That much is clear from the Bible. Scripture declares, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). It does not say He will cleanse us “from all unrighteousness except for that one blunder of yours! I’m going to keep holding that one over your head.” No! Jesus died for all of our sins. No one has sinned so little that they don’t need to be saved, and no one has sinned so bad that they cannot be saved.

No one has sinned so little that they don’t need to be saved, and no one has sinned so bad that they cannot be saved.

Why God!?

God has not let me in on His hidden decreed will for everyone. Even for me, I find it hard to always accept God’s will and don’t always know why I or my family and friends go through suffering. Job never did receive a full answer from God as to why he suffered so much. His friends falsely accused him of sin, but God knew his heart. His pride was the greatest sin he had as he began to question God and why he was even born. Remember, Job didn’t have the luxury that we have of reading the Book of Job. God didn’t owe Job an explanation, at least this side of heaven, and the Bible tells us God is not required to answer every question we have or that we can demand to know an answer from God.

It’s Not Fair!

My cousin lost her brother in a very painful accident years ago and she has never really gotten over it and has often asked me, “Why did he have to die!? It doesn’t seem fair.” She gets very angry at me at times because she knows I believe in God. But let’s not forget: They were not fair to Jesus either in history’s greatest travesty of justice. Someone Who had never sinned had to suffer and die for those who were sinners and deserved God’s wrath. We don’t really want God to be fair do we, because if He were, we’d all be thrashed and cast into hell, with no hope of redemption? However, God has made a way, but the problem is, God demands a perfect sacrifice: the solution is a perfect God became the sacrifice in Jesus Christ, but this was exceedingly hard on Jesus! Even on the cross, our Lord and Master felt (and was) abandoned, crying out, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me (Matt 27:46)? Jesus was crying out in His humanity like we sometimes do, crying out, “Why God!? Why?” The answers will come in time…but perhaps not today…or even this side of the veil, but it is coming (Rev 21-22).

Broken-ness

At the times when life gets so difficult that it just breaks us, is the time when God is there waiting for us. Our trials or suffering can humble us and make us come to an end of ourselves. And maybe that’s what God’s waiting for. When we reach a point where we just can’t go on anymore and don’t know what to do, we must recognize that God is there waiting for us…waiting for us to come to the end of our rope. There we often see, He has tied a knot in it and He is there waiting to catch us. But as long as we hold on by our own strength, we are weak. When we are weak, only then are we strong. The Apostle Paul knew when not to rely on his own strength and when to rely on God’s, saying, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (1 Cor 12:10). Conversely, if Paul had tried to stay strong by his efforts, his apparent strength would have really shown his true state; weakness! Like the rest of us, we must depend on God when we can depend on nothing or no one else. When all else and everyone else fails, God will not, never, ever leaving us and never, ever forsaking us (Heb 13:5).

A Dark Glass View

We can’t know all the whys and why not’s in this life. Some things in this life will remain hidden to us, but I do believe someday we will know the reasons. Right now, we see a tapestry, not from the front but from behind. It looks confusing, with different color threads interwoven into disorganized patterns, but on the other side…ah, it will make sense someday. It already makes sense to God. God alone knows all the why this or why that’s of life…we can trust Him for He knows what He’s doing, even if it doesn’t look like it. We must see with the eyes of faith, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Cor 13:12).

For now we see in a mirror dimly…

Conclusion

I wished I could help you understand why you are going through what you are going through right now. I have no idea, but I know God does. It probably makes little sense today why your child, your spouse, your friend died…or you lost your job or whatever. If not today, it will be fully understood in the Kingdom. God does not owe us an explanation today. He wants us to trust Him. He has seen the future and knows that whatever happens, good or bad, it will all work out for our best (Rom 8:28). By the time we see Christ, our suffering today won’t even compare to God’s glory in Christ, almost like a distant memory (Rom 8:18).

Here is some related reading for you: Is Suffering Avoidable if I Have Enough Faith?

Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^® (ESV^®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible: English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Tagged as: Book of Job, grieving, Questioning God, Suffering, Why God?