Why... GOD... WHY

There we were, surrounded by hospital staff, IVs dangling from his arms, the beep of the machines a consistent reminder of the changes that were on the horizon. We had not been married for long, 2 years at most. We had no answers, just questions. We visited countless physicians, we consulted expert after expert. We were given a different diagnosis with each visit, and were well known at the local pharmacy. We were left with no answers; it was just us in his sterile hospital room, him sleeping, me watching him as he finally looked peaceful. I became comfortable with my tear stained face, shaggy looking hair and worn out knees from hours spent praying at his bedside. I was left to wonder, Why? Why him? Why us? Why now? Why me?

I have never been afraid to question the Lord, nor have I been afraid to “express my thoughts” about His plan. But this time, it was different. This time it was personal and this time I was pissed.

Why would God let over 100 fathers of unborn children die in the collapse of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001? Why do those children and additional children since that fear filled day have to grow up without knowing their father’s voice, his smell, his touch or his love? Why have they and their mama’s been forsaken?

Why would God withhold children from godly parents and give them to a mother who would drown them in a bathtub? Why does the Lord allow children to be abused in unspeakable ways by the ones who are suppose to love and care for them? Why would God allow the kidnapping of babies and children for the perverted pleasure of some pedophile?

Why does the Lord take husbands away from their wives before they have the chance to grow old together? Why does God give fabulous husbands to women who are never satisfied, leaving the women who desperately long for love alone?

Why does God give athletic success to some and not others? Why does God allow you to be picked on by the “popular” kids?

Why do the young die? Why do the wicked prosper?

Broken hearts have been asking the question “Why?” since we first came to be, beginning with Adam and Eve. Just imagine what it would have been like to wake up the morning after having been banished from the Garden of Eden because of a very wrong and yet very stupid choice. I can picture Adam and Eve laying on the ground, one of them doing the “I am mad but I am not going to say anything” fish fllop routine we have either all done or seen our parents do. After dark hours of fish flopping sleep or lack thereof, they must have had at least one moment in between unconsciousness and full alertness when they thought everything they had been through the day before was just a horrible nightmare—only to come fully awake and face to face with reality. I am sure they found no comfort in each other that night after the way Eve had involved Adam in her sin—and Adam had blamed Eve when convicted of it. I can just hear the argument play out in my head, and I am sure at one point they may not even have been speaking to each other.

I am sure they were clothed in loneliness; they must have felt separated and alienated from God, their minds must have been preoccupied with reliving those awful moments that had led to their disobedience. I am sure they played out the events of the day, over and over in their minds as the night hours passed and as the morning came.

Why did I talk to the snake? Why didn't I pray first? Why didn't God intervene to protect us?
The most tragic day in all of history could not be relived, the worst was yet to come, the pain they felt on that very day was not going to be the only painful day of their lives. Over the next few years, they celebrated the birth of their three sons and then, when they least expected it, Adam's and Eve's hearts were broken once again as they buried their second son, who was murdered by their firstborn.

Why?

I am left speechless as I come to know that God had answered what surely was their unspoken question with a promise that transcended the generations for every age to come when He reassured Adam and Eve that one day He would send a Savior Who would destroy the power of sin, death, and the devil—the fundamental sources of all human suffering. I stand in awe as I come to see that ultimately this brokenness did lead to blessing, and their suffering did lead to glory when Jesus Christ, their descendant in the flesh, came to redeem mankind from sin and reconcile the world to God.

Do not be mistaken my friends, it is to our heart–wrenched cries of Why? God's ultimate answer is, "Jesus," as He is glorified and magnified in our lives through our suffering. During the times when you and I can't trace God's hand of purpose, we must trust His heart of love. We must look deep into His words that speak of the promises of rest, peace, assurance, freedom from life without Him and most of all the promise that He will never leave us nor will He forsake us – the promise I cling to when all the chips are down.