Why?

Many times in life we find ourselves asking "Why, God? Why did this happen? Why didn't you step in?" I find myself guilty of that many times. This past week a 60 year old woman in our church died from strep pneumonia. The infection was just too much for her to handle. It was odd because the doctors were saying she was going to be fine, and so many people were praying for her. Then all of a sudden she just took a turn for the worse. She was a devout Christian and she is with the Lord now, but I still wonder why the Lord didn't heal her.

Earlier this week a five-year-old boy was killed on a motorcycle track in our community. Apparently an older boy was doing tricks in the air and accidentally fell straight on the little boy. I didn't know him but it's still a shock that God would allow something like that to happen. Why a child? Why didn't God step in and do something?

Incidents like this can really get us questioning God and wondering if God really cares about what is going on here on earth. This past Sunday,however, my dad (who happens to be a minister) gave a great illustration concerning these things. (Hope you don't mind me posting it here, Dad :) You remember when you were a young child and adults would never answer your questions because they realized you wouldn't understand even if they told you? That's a bit like it is with us and God. We're just children to God and He realizes that if He took the time to explain to us why bad things happen, we still wouldn't understand.

Also last Sunday my dad brought up a Scripture from Luke in which people were questioning Jesus about why bad things happened to their friends. They wanted to know if God was punishing their friends for doing something wrong. The answer was of course not. But Jesus never explains why bad things happen. Instead He says repent before your time is up. That's a good way to look at things. Instead of wondering why things happen and why God doesn't step in we should value the time we have here on earth and get right with God. We're still going to wonder why things happen, but just remember we are living in an evil world. Listen to this scripture from John 16:33., In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." Jesus Himself says we're going to have troubles in this world. But this world isn't going to last forever.