Why does God allow suffering?

Lately I’ve been challenged emotionally by what is happening in our world. I know I’m not the only one. All over the news we see our fellow brothers and sisters in anguish, families broken, lives torn apart. It makes very little sense to me. I’ve been asking God why such things have to happen. I’m reminded that while the crisis in Haiti is pressing and is making headline news, it is not the only atrocity our world is facing, has faced, or will face in the future. For all of us who have been given life on earth, we will experience severe pain in some form or another.

All over the world people are suffering, struggling, and perhaps questioning their very purpose. Looking in from the outside, it’s impossible to fully understand the extent of people’s pain. Pain can reach so deep, to such a degree that our very spirit is shaken. One ends up asking one very short, yet intensely profound question. Why?

Countless books have been dedicated to attempt to answer these questions. Prestigious authors have mastered large manuscripts focused on this very issue. For clearly it’s an immensely delicate matter that few of us have been able to ignore. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God allow suffering? If God is such a loving God, why did this person have to die?

I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the reality of all of this lies in one unique dilemma we humans face on a daily basis. We think it’s all about ‘me.’ We’re not satisfied if things don’t go ‘our way.’

Drawing from a much lighter perspective, but relative to this idea, is the question of what is today’s purpose. Today was probably all about me. My alarm went off, but I wasn’t ready to wake up. I was tired. I was late to work. I became upset when something didn’t go right. I took something personally. I believed I should make more money. I was disappointed with my hair. I was upset when someone was driving slowly. Today, in large part, was about me. For some reason, it wasn’t too fulfilling. The world didn’t revolve around me and give me praise, when sometimes I thought it should have. Why? Because the world and the people in it, were not created to give me praise.

The world, and the people in it, have been created by the Almighty God, to give Him praise. This was His primary intention in creating the world.

‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.’ (Gen. 1:27) God created the soul of man in his image. He didn’t need man to make him more complete, or cure his loneliness.  He wanted to create man with the purpose that we interact with Him. Man would experience life on earth, created by God, and worship him. He may eat a piece of fruit, hand delivered by God, and praise God for its perfect taste. She may fall in love, and thank God that He provided a perfect mate.

God gave us free will. We took it and ran with it. Therefore, we live in a fallen world, where good and evil exist simultaneously. God promises that in the midst of the pain and the struggle, He is good. Despite the sin that surrounds us and the turmoil that seems to entangle us, He is still God.

Things never go the way they’re supposed to when it’s all about us. God wants to interact with us. God wants us to love Him, like He first loved us. That was His whole purpose in creating us in the first place. But what is love if it’s forced?

While I’m not in any way undermining or trying to disregard people’s pain, I’m joining those of us who may be asking similar questions. During our difficult times, perhaps all we can do is sit down and ask God what He may be trying to tell us. Each time I battle with this issue in my mind, I’m brought back to the truth that God’s way is perfect. I must remind myself that I am created in His image, to worship Him, and delight in the beauty of being in His presence.

And who on earth could ever understand some of the pain we go through? Only God. He knows. We’re here for such a short bit of time. What’s God’s purpose for you?

Broken

The broken clock is a comfort, it helps me sleep tonight
Maybe it can stop tomorrow from stealing all my time
I am here still waiting though i still have my doubts
I am damaged at best, like you’ve already figured out

I’m falling apart, I’m barely breathing
With a broken heart that’s still beating
In the pain there is healing
In your name I find meaning
So I’m holdin’ on, I’m holdin’ on, I’m holdin’ on
I’m barely holdin’ on to you

The broken locks were a warning you got inside my head
I tried my best to be guarded, I’m an open book instead
I still see your reflection inside of my eyes
That are looking for a purpose, they’re still looking for life

I’m falling apart, I’m barely breathing
with a broken heart that’s still beating
In the pain there is healing
In your name I find meaning
So I’m holdin’ on, I’m holdin’ on, I’m holdin’ on
I’m barely holdin’ on to you

I’m hangin’ on another day
Just to see what you will throw my way
And I’m hanging on to the words you say
You said that I will be ok

The broken lights on the freeway left me here alone
I may have lost my way now, haven’t forgotten my way home

It is when we are barely breathing that we realize that the only one who can restore and replenish, is the one who gave us breath, the one who gives us life. We might get lost and lose our grip, but He will never let us go. Sometimes He allows us to reach rock bottom where the only direction to look is up. Reach for him. He won’t let you down!

God’s Waiting Room

 

 

 

 

 

Hi….wait a minute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What?

 

 

 

What are you waiting for?

 

 

Waiting.

 

Waiting.

 

Are you waiting?

 

 

 

Just wait.

 

It’s coming.

 

 

 

 

Isn’t that so annoying? Waiting for what’s next? Why do most of us get angry when waiting? Me, especially. Now because I try to keep my “verbal cool” with people at all times, I do allow myself to get a little feisty while driving, while on the phone with the T-Mobile answering service, or with the automated self check-out station at the grocery store. (It’s not like I’m hurting any feelings). If the person in the car in front of me is looking in the mirror and doesn’t notice when the light turns green, I’ve yelled, “What are you doing? You can look in the mirror when you get there, GO!” (My horn doesn’t work). And when the automated voice on the T-Mobile customer care line says, “I didn’t quite understand you, did you say, ‘text messages’, or, ‘how many minutes do I have?’”, I’ve barked into the phone, “TEXT MESSAGES!”, getting more irritated because it’s taking so long. And then it repeats, “I didn’t quite understand you…” Some phone companies know we can’t stand waiting, so they’ve provided music to keep our brains occupied in the process: “Please enjoy the music while your party is reached.” And when the self check-out scanner computer thing at the grocery store told me the other day, “Please wait. Remove the item from the bag…Please wait for attendant…Remove the item from the bag…Please wait…” Well, maybe I shouldn’t share what I told the scanner.

 

If you’re like me, then you too have trouble in the waiting game of life. Whether we’re waiting in line, waiting for a friend who’s late, or waiting for an answer to prayer, it’s challenging for us.

 

One definition of waiting reads, “to remain or stay in expectation of.” Waiting is seemingly difficult for me, because nothing is happening. All I’m doing is remaining, staying, waiting…and I feel like I’m not doing what I should be doing: accomplishing something else.

 

However, this could be no further from the truth. When we wait, we are actually given opportunities to develop our patience and build our character. When we wait, we have the choice to either accept that God is in control and pray, “Thy will be done.” Or we can try to bypass the uncomfortable waiting period and figure things out on our own. Whenever I’ve tried the latter, I’ve only dug myself a deeper hole.

 

We all know that good comes to those who wait. So while we’re just chilling out in God’s waiting room of life, why not delve a little deeper and ask Him for His perspective? He speaks to us best when we’ve allowed the world around us to calm down a little bit. He wants us to trust His timing in everything. When we surrender ourselves to God, we put our confidence in Him, knowing that he will work it out in His divine power.

 

I may not stop getting a little annoyed by those automated voices…but I’ll try to keep in mind that I could learn something new when I find myself in God’s waiting room. I certainly wouldn’t want to miss out on something I’m supposed to know!

 

 

In His waiting room, the following encouragements and promises of God are posted on the wall. You may not see them unless you choose to take notice…

Ps 27:14   Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the LORD.
Ps 33:20   Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield.
Ps 37:7   Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
Ps 37:9   For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land.
Ps 37:34   Wait for the LORD, and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.
Pr 20:22   Do not say, “I will repay evil”; Wait for the LORD, and He will save you.
Isa 8:17   And I will wait for the LORD who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will even look eagerly for Him.
Isa 40:31   Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.

Still waters

I am very much a product of this individualistic, productivity-driven, activity-based Western World mindset. I tend to get unhappy if I feel like I have not accomplished something every day. Many of us seem to get our self worth from what we have done on our own. It seems like our compliments to our friends are focused on what they have achieved. We reward good works. How often have I told someone, “Good job! You sat around all day thinking about life!”?  No one wants to be known as that person who sits around all day thinking about life. Too much thinking, and not enough activity, is seldom recognized as a positive thing in this side of the world. 

But here I am stuck in the midst of this worldview. I am looking for a job, and feeling the effects of not having one as each day goes by. Some people are trying to encourage me, telling me it takes months to find a good job…this isn’t so encouraging, to be quite honest. Months?  

Who defines success anyway? Who decided that being productive, active, independent…was better than any other way?  

God never asked us to be lazy, for clearly we must work to survive, but He does tell us to Be Still, and Know, that He is God. Similarly, He makes us lie down in green pastures, He leads us beside still waters…all to remind us that HE, is GOD. Green pastures, still waters…God uses nature, stillness, and peace, to speak to us. Being still and waiting are some of the hardest things we’re asked to do. It’s like we’re afraid of what we might discover in those quiet places. No wonder we involve ourselves in every activity under the sun until our minds are so full of mayhem. No wonder we mindlessly spend hundreds of dollars in entertainment every month. I admit that the other day after going to a movie, I felt a little better about life, because for about two hours my mind was distracted by something other than itself.  

We unconsciously like it when our brains can be turned off for a while. Our spirits become masked by action…smothered with busyness…we easily avoid those unwanted emotions that speak loudly in the quietness of our hearts. What if we took it all away? What if for one day we had nothing to distract us from the true state of our minds? No TV, no radio, no books, no internet, no phone, no human contact, no newspaper, no traffic…What if it all disappeared? Then what? Scary thought, isn’t it.  

Perhaps this is just my little self-help dialogue, to make myself feel better for feeling unproductive at this point in my life. I seem to have big dreams, however. I want to make a difference. I want to travel the world, I want to be using the gifts God has given me to reach others, I want to be self-sufficient…and this is why I feel a little frustrated. I feel like I’m not doing anything to get me there.  

Maybe the measuring stick I use should be modified. At the end of every day, instead of measuring my productivity based upon what certain cultures define as success, it should be measured by a new, improved standard. Did I seek God’s will today? Was I able to encourage at least one person? Did I give just portions of my time to someone who goes unnoticed in society? Truly this measure of success is most valuable. There’s a reason God created it to be so.  

The bottom line is, HE. IS. GOD.  

I certainly have not been lazy in this job search. I am definitely not “too lazy” for that! It’s just that too many external circumstances are beyond my control. And for this reason, I will obediently surrender myself, my desires, my hopes and dreams, to Him. After all, He does know what He’s doing. And if anyone knows the true desires of my heart, He does.

Enjoying my grasses

We’re all familiar with the question, “Is the glass half empty or half full?” I’ll admit that I see situations from each perspective, depending on the day or even the hour. Sometimes I might even ask, “What glass?!”  

Likewise, too often the grass looks greener on the other side. So when I hop over to that other side, I usually wish I could be back where I was! I must work on enjoying my grass all the time, whether it needs to be watered, mowed, mulched, or whatever else happens to grass!  

Now that I think of it, it’s the same with my hair! If I cut my hair real short, I tend to enjoy it for about a couple days, and then I want long hair again! And I look at everyone with long hair and get envious of them! Goodness, I should be thankful I even have hair! 

I think I underestimate the power of my mind. When I choose to not recognize how I’ve already been blessed, I sure miss out on a lot of blessing. Certainly blessings come my way all the time, but if I choose not to notice, I’ll never feel blessed. But when I can be grateful for what God has given me, life comes so much easier.  

It’s only day two of this new year, but I sure hope I can maintain an attitude of thankfulness for the remaining 363 days. Being home has shown me what a spoiled brat I am/can be…am/can be…(feel free to make your own assessment…sorry Mom). So I am going to say that I am thankful I don’t have a job yet, because in the time I’ve had to think about such things, I’ve also been reminded of how undeserving I am of anything!  

Have you ever been around someone who is so appreciative of the small things in life? Someone who savors each and every bite of their hamburger? Someone who points out pretty flowers while they’re stopped at a red light…the light turns green and they’re still enjoying each and every color? It’s like, “uh, can you go?” Those people can be kind of annoying, can’t they? Like why can’t they complain about something for once? But ultimately, their joy is contagious, and their coping style is most effective. They keep on the sunny side of life!  

As we enter this new year, let’s stop and thank God for what He has so graciously given us. We’ll approach each new day with a brighter perspective on life. Simple, really!