A Place to Question

Why God…why?

A wayward child, natural calamities, betrayal by a trusted one, physical afflictions, a barrenness perhaps of body and soul. Many of us have discovered the hard way that more often than not life is not fair, justice is not duly served, and there isn’t always an explanation for the things that happen to or around us.

When trials and difficulties come a-knocking, what kind of a response do we find ourselves giving? A handful of us would probably end up griping and complaining with a generous dose of self-pity, but surely the rest of us mature Christians would know better than that! A common notion is that struggling with the ‘whys’ in our lives and God’s ways of dealing with us, instead of displaying an unwavering resilience and confidence is a demonstration of a lack of faith and trust in Him. Is there any place at all to question?

Somewhere to Be Real
Ponder the agonising, heart-wrenching pleas that David gave up to the Lord in the first two verses of the 22nd Psalm:

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.”

I am sure to many of us the Psalms are most dear and precious. In the dark valleys of our lives when there are more tears than words to express ourselves, the Psalms echo our sentiments and give us utterance of our hearts’ cry to God. The very man after God’s own heart had his questions, his fears, his frustrations (what more us?), and was not constrained to make them known. Yet that did not make him any less loved and esteemed by the Lord.

When burdens distress us, who are the people we run to to pour out our souls? I’m sure they are the ones we trust and the ones we know who care about us. With them, we find a safe place to be vulnerable and be our real selves, knowing that we wouldn’t be taken advantage of. With them, we are upfront with our anger and disappointment, having the confidence that they know us well enough to recognise our need to vent our emotions and to not judge or think any less of us. So it ought to be the same with God. In our conversations with Him is He like a regular friend to us, the kind to whom we always put on a standard smile and brave front to? Or is He our most trusted confidant in all seasons, in whose love and acceptance we rest assured in?

Somewhere Not to Be Bitter
That being said and done, the problem comes when legitimate feelings of anger are not handled correctly and lead to inappropriate bitterness and rebellion which sometimes accompany anger. The Bible realistically portrays the frustration and anger of God's people when things go wrong or when they cannot understand why certain things happen. This was the reason for Job's anger at getting no explanation from God for his suffering, Jonah's anger over Nineveh's repentance and the death of the shade-giving vine, and the prophet Jeremiah’s anger with God because of his persecution and the lack of response to his preaching.

God did not make us emotionless robots but rather, humans with an innate ability to feel and express. Hence while there is no wrong the expressing of ourselves in the various circumstances that confront us, the line is drawn when we demand explanations from God or elevate ourselves to think that we know better.

“Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?” (Isaiah 45:9)

Somewhere to Recognise God’s Track Record
At the end of every single one of his Psalms, David in his struggles never failed to lose sight of the unchangeable fact that God is faithful and trustworthy. David’s focus is not on his finite self, but how time and again God proved and continues to prove Himself faithful to His promises and His people.

“In You our fathers trusted; they trusted and You delivered them. To You they cried out and were delivered; in You they trusted and were not disappointed.” (Psalm 22:4)

It is in spite of our fears, in spite of our disappointments that we trust in God, not in the absence of it. Great is His faithfulness, to you, to me.

Our Response to Trouble and Troubling Times

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed,
and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,
though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
Psalm 46:1-3

I had originally started out with the deliberate intention of not writing yet another piece about the tsunami disaster, as I am sure we have read our fair share of bad news in the papers on a daily basis over the past weeks. However (and I am sure you could see this coming), this was not meant to be as the Lord led me to a Psalm that some of us might be familiar with – Psalm 46 (otherwise known as the “Be Still and Know” Psalm), which became so very real in light of the circumstances surrounding us. In addition, this beautiful Psalm also revealed rich insights as to what our appropriate response should be, to trouble and troubling times…

Response #1: Do Not Fear (v.2)
Do not fear, in spite of…threats from nature (v.2-3) and warring nations (v.8-9).
Devastating earthquakes, floods, and fires will continue to plague our groaning earth. We are not to fear. Brutal genocides and unimaginable atrocities will continue to be committed by the “progressive” human race. We are not to fear.

Do not fear, because of…God’s promise that He is our refuge and strength, and a very present help in trouble (v.1).
God’s promises are faithful and true. What He has promised in His Word, He will see to. He has promised to be our refuge. He has promised to be our strength. He has promised to be a very present help in trouble. We have nothing to fear.

Do not fear, in light of…the glorious hope of the new Jerusalem in which God will dwell with His people once again (v.4-5).
In this Psalm, David contrasted the roaring, troubled waters with the river of life that flows through the city of God as a reminder that there will come a day when God will restore His creation to its original perfection as a true reflection of all that He is.

Response #2: Behold the Works of the Lord (v.8)
The earthquake and subsequent tsunami has sparked views on “God’s wrath” and judgment unleashed upon man from various religions throughout the region. Indeed just as our God is a God of love and peace, He is also a God of justice and holy vengeance. Behold the works of the Lord and recognize in all awe that He is the One whom “even the wind and waves obey”. Sometimes it takes calamities of such scale to remind us how truly almighty our God is and how we depend on Him for just about everything.

Response #3: Be Still (v.10)
Humans are forgetful creatures. Time and again crises strike us but in a flash, life goes on as usual. The 911 tragedy, the SARS epidemic, and soon enough this Tsunami disaster will also be a thing of the past, especially for those of us who did not have a personal stake in it. Let us take this time to linger a little longer in the moment. Let us tear ourselves away momentarily from our daily routine of busyness to reflect and journal items of thanksgiving; to recollect what God has taught us in the year past; to question if we have lost precious time for Him; to take action-steps on habits we have been wanting to change; to surrender areas of our lives we have been refusing to let go; to make right a wrong…

Be still. For it is only when we are quiet that we can hear what God is saying.

Response #4: Know that God is God (v.10)
Earthquakes and tsunamis. God is God. Changed landscapes, changed lives. God is God. Confirmed death toll of more than 165,000. God is still God. He is sovereign amidst wringing hands and cries of desperation. AND…He will be exalted. “I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

This is the time, cleared from the clutter of everyday living, when the hearts of many will crave the spiritual things we were made for. In the face of crisis, man, regardless of their station in life, will be confronted with the fundamental questions of life. But as we know, humans are forgetful creatures. For us whose eyes have been illumined to see the light, will we help point the way while the doors are open?

What If?

The might-have-beens
How often do we catch ourselves whiling our time away mulling over the what-ifs and might-have-beens in our lives? Career ventures that did not materialise, relationships that were not meant to be, opportunities past…choices made at a point in time that result in life-altering decisions. Box-office movies such as “Sliding Doors” and “Run, Lola, Run”, go a step further in encouraging us to ponder the impact of seemingly inconsequential actions upon our lives. In “Sliding Doors”, the flight of fantasy sees the protagonist experience two completely different versions of life by sheer dint of whether or not she catches a train. Likewise at times, we may subconsciously toy with ideas of how differently we might be living if certain decisions or events in our lives had taken on another course…

The will of God
However, as Christians, we must guard against these thoughts, as they are what the concept of fate and chance is built upon. Believing on the Lord Jesus means trusting God’s sovereign control in every single aspect of our lives. Our perfect, omniscient Creator does not leave anything in the hands of the capricious nature of fate and chance but on the contrary, makes sure that “all things work for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.”

Bearing in mind this reassurance we have, as missionary to Ecuador Jim Elliot puts it succinctly in one of his life maxims: “Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.” With this focus in place, and an unquenchable passion for the life given us, we will find it easier to be joyful and confident in whatever circumstances God places us in. And by not doubting that it is nothing less than His perfect plan and purpose – not for our personal gain, but for His and His alone, we make ourselves more mouldable in His hands and more adept for His use.

That I may know Him
In the light of the knowledge of God, past disappointments and present heartbreaks don’t matter, although the plain fact is that to most of us, they do. Paul, in Philippians 3:8 wrote, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” As such, when we place such vain thinking beside the glories of knowing Christ – not simply intellectually, but experientially and personally – they become not just worthless, but detestable as they pale in comparison to the marvellous work He is doing in us, in whatever station He has placed us in life for His greatest glory.

“If I look back longingly upon what used to be,
and linger among the byways of memory,
so that my power to help is weakened,
then I know nothing of Calvary love.”
- Amy Carmichael, “If”

Let us be careful not to fall into the temptation of wallowing in regret or slipping into bitterness and gloom as we brood on the might-have-beens, but instead, see opportunities to draw strength from our Father and lean wholly on Him. Part of knowing God is not thinking of things we have missed, only of what we have gained.

All for Christ
Like Paul, do we have the desire to lay our all on the altar of sacrifice so “…that [we] may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death”? How are we ensuring that we are living out the purposes of our Lord in where He has placed us?

May we all in His mercy, be able make it our sincere prayer that our unwavering priority would be to know Him as beautifully expressed by the songwriter of this old hymn,

We have not known Thee as we ought,
Nor learned Thy wisdom, grace, and power;
The things of earth have filled our thought,
And trifles of the passing hour.
Lord, give us light Thy truth to see,
And make us wise in knowing Thee.
- Thom­as B. Pol­lock -