Why Lord, Why?

Why God Why?

We’ve all asked this question and often more than once. Some things won’t get an answer until we get to see Him face to face to ask Him in person. Other times we get the answers in dribs and drabs. Yet others we get an answer, and not necessarily the one we wanted, straight away. It is all part of God’s plans and revelation for us.

That well known verse from Jeremiah 29:11 says this, ”For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” Long a favourite of encouragers, we frequently quote the verse far too glibly and diminish much of the full meaning. I quite like the Message version – “I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” The trouble we have with this is that we want to know now what the plan is. We want to ask all the “What if ...” questions and we want all the answers laid out before us.

It doesn’t usually happen like that. I can tell you from experience, if God had told us His plan for us in moving us to this new town, to a new church, and to a new home, we would have laughed ourselves silly – and run away from Him. Sometimes He asks us to follow Him to a new location without telling us why. Then He keeps us for a season wondering what on earth is going on and what was the point of all this moving etc. Then He opens one small door. If we are faithful and follow His leading, He opens another small door. This is how God’s plan for us is revealed – one step at a time. As I said earlier, had the Lord shown us the complete plan, we may not even have come here at all. We are so far outside our original comfort zone of two years ago that to have even imagined us being where we are today would have been so frightening as to be ludicrous. Yet here we are, praising God every day for His goodness, loving life here and very happy to follow wherever He leads us from this point – if anywhere else.

Next time you ask God “Why, Lord?”, don’t expect an immediate answer, don’t even expect a complete answer. And just accept that God does know what He is doing but it needs our co-operation in order for His will for us to be done. It is God’s will for us that we are talking about here. We know that God uses all things for good in those who love Him (Romans 8)

So, whatever you do, don’t throw away the future God has for you just because you don’t understand ‘Why?’ As the old song says, “Trust and obey – there’s no other way.”