I have often been hung up on the why's in the past and still sometimes find myself tripping over that stumbling block every now and again. Its our human nature.. our fleshy side that does that. I try and go beyond that and deal with things how they are given to me weather I like it or understand it or not. It is all a part of His plan and not mine. The wisdom of our Holy Father is to not be known before its time. It seems that children get it but as adults we just can't wrap our heads around it at all. There is always a reason, and we are not to why...
25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. - Matthew 11:25 (NIV)
~B
In his pain and despair, Job asked a lot of legitimate questions: “Why let people go on living in misery? Why give light to those in grief?” (Job 3:20 TEV)
This “why” question is human nature, and we all ask it. We have this misconception that if we understand the reason behind our pain, then it will make the pain easier.
You don’t need an explanation; you need strength. You don’t need an explanation; you need a Savior. You don’t need an explanation; you need comfort and support.
But we always go looking for an explanation! We ask questions like, “Why did that person walk out of my life? Why did he make a promise to me and then break it? Why did he hurt me? Why did I lose my job? Why did she die? Why did I get sick?”
Friends, I’ve been studying the “why” question for 37 years, and I’m going to give you my educated answer: I don’t know. And I’m never going to know, because I’m not God. And neither are you! Some things we’re just never going to understand until we get to the other side of death. Then it’s all going to become very, very clear. Only God knows. And if you don’t get his answer right off the bat, you might as well stop asking “Why?” because you’re simply prolonging the pain.
Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is God’s privilege to conceal things” (LB). God is a God of revelation. He reveals himself through nature, circumstances, and Scripture. The only reason you know anything about God is because he has chosen to reveal himself.
But the Bible says God doesn’t just reveal; God also conceals. And sometimes God intentionally hides his face from us. Why? So we’ll learn to trust him instead of our feelings and to live by faith rather than our feelings.
God doesn’t owe you an explanation for anything. God doesn’t have to check in with you first before he does something. God doesn’t have to get your permission before he allows things to happen in life. God is God, and we’re not always going to understand why some things happen.
The Bible says, “We don’t know everything, and our prophecies are not complete.... Now all we can see of God is like a cloudy picture in a mirror. Later we will see him face to face. We don’t know everything, but then we will, just as God completely understand us” (1 Corinthians 13:9, 12 CEV).
One day it’s all going to be clear. It’s all going to make sense. You’re going to be able to say, “So that’s why God allowed that in my life!” Until then, God wants you to trust him.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. - 1Corinthians 13:9-12 (NIV)
20 “Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, - Job 3:20 (NIV)
2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings. - Proverbs 25:2 (NIV)
This devotional © 2014 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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