Growing up, the world seemed pretty stable to me. As a young girl, family was the closest thing to perfection. No one was going to have to leave home “to a better place” or be separated, parents would never argue and it would always be one big happy family. Fast forward several years later and I know now that the world is not stable, family is not perfect – how can a broken humanity ever be?
I have learnt that most assuringly life will throw curve balls.
And so I’m found in this place where all I can say is ‘Why?’
But God you’re there aren’t you? I am your child aren’t I? So…
Why?
Why did he have to mess up the stability of the family?
Why did he have to lose his life, where is the justice in that?
Why does she have to suffer such pain every single day?
Why is there so much violence?
Why are innocent people being wasted?
Why is life so hard?
And so the internal perpetual bank of questions continue to overflow.
I have heard a friend say often “God is not afraid of your questions”. Of course He is not, why would He be?
While I was in university, we usually undertook case presentations. One had to deliver a presentation on a topic well researched and after the presentation we were asked questions by the panel. I was often afraid of the questions, despite my preparation I knew that the examiner could always focus on the minutiae which I wouldn’t have sufficient knowledge in.
But God… He not only knows the end from the beginning, he can foretell the future from a seeming end point. He has been i.e He has existed before time – now this is hard to comprehend but please imagine that for a moment if you will. Often He is referred to as the rock of ages – the base/backbone/stability of time. He is timeless, age-less, not defined by time rather He is the master of time itself. He controls it.
So He knows!
Nothing takes God by surprise… Absolutely nothing.
Yet in a seemingly chaotic situation, He works His plan out through it. You’ll remember that His ways are not our ways and thank God for that!
If you look at the way things happen, particularly viewing it retrospectively, there appears to be meaning to and a reason for all the “hassle”.
Jeremiah 31:3 says ‘The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you’.
Many times, I have heard something along this line “you’re going through what you’re going through because there is a lesson in it, it is there to build something in you; to develop your character”. I do not dispute this, there are many things to learn from the various circumstances we face but there are situations where the ‘lesson’ is not so obvious or simply does not apply.
That’s when the scripture above came alive to me. God Loves us. He really does. The reality of this is just so beautiful and exciting that it warranted an urgent post by a friend ( read it here ) God’s love is different. Like the post will explain, God’s love is not just a father-son love or a husband-wife love, it encompasses everything in between. It’s unconditional. It’s a God kinda Love and there is nothing like it – no substitute, no replica. Now Jeremiah tells us it’s not only unconditional, it’s everlasting!
We have done nothing to deserve it and we can do nothing to earn it – He loved us first,
Inspite of…
Despite our…
Regardless of…
And it is because He loves us that He wants to draw us near. He wants us close. That’s understandable. If you disagree, ask someone in a long distance relationship to explain. You don’t really want to be far away from your beloved and the same with God.
So in that moment of chaos, of questioning, of sorrow…He wants to be the shoulder we lean on, The One we turn to, The Rock we stand on, the One we search for with all our heart, The One we trust and depend on.
God wants to be our all.
Sometimes, it takes something dramatic to make us want to re-kindle/develop our relationship with God. We tend to tick along at a comfortable pace that quickly turns into distance. While we may be satisfied with this, God wants us near Him. He wants to draw us close and sometimes a bit of turbulence pushes us in that direction. It’s not that He causes evil to happen, no He DOES NOT but while you’re going through that He wants to use that as an opportunity to show you that His love will never fail, He will never, He can never fail.
He knew this was going to happen and He is making the provision to see you through it by making Himself easily accessible, by drawing you close
So you ask Why?
Perhaps He is seeking your attention, bringing you to that place where He is your all.
Scriptures Useful To This Post:
1. Psalm 139:4 “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.”
2. Isaiah 46:9-10 “Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,”
3. Isaiah 40:28 “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable”
4. Isaiah 55:8 “”For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD”
5. 2 Timothy 2:13 “if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”
6. 1 John 3:1 “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”
On Bended Knees With a Bowed Heart 