Ever find yourself asking God why???
Why was he not there when your mother died?
Why did he let that child die so young?
Ever wondered where is God when all these horrible things are happening?
Has God forgotten about us?
Is this part of our punishment?
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.
This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”
that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”
The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”
Mary Stevenson, 1936
"Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times
of trouble?" (Psalm 10:1) Have you ever felt that way? That you called on
God but he does not seem to answer or maybe he didn't hear you?
This cry of the psalmist has been echoed by many of us even in today's society and through out history. "Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the
day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake, why
sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever. Wherefore
hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our
oppression?" (Psalm 44:22-24). Consequently, one of the great
mysteries of life is the suffering of the righteous. How can a God of
love and power allow such undeserved suffering in His creation?
The fact is, however, that there is no such thing as undeserved
suffering, Once sin was introduced into the world this is the effect
of sin entering into this world. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God"
(Romans 3:23). The reason there is suffering in the world is that
there is sin in the world. Even though one's particular experience of
suffering may or may not be directly related to his particular sin.
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It is not the suffering that is unwarranted , but God's grace and mercy!
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy he saved us" (Titus 3:5). There has only been one among us in
all history whose suffering was undeserved, and He suffered for us,
"the just for the unjust, that we might bring reunited to the Father" (1 Peter
3:18).
Our sufferings are not undeserved, but neither are they uncontrolled,
for God "worketh all things after the counsel of his own will"
(Ephesians 1:11). There are many good reasons why God permits a
faithful Christian to suffer, but even if one cannot discern the
particular reason at the time, he can at least "rejoice, inasmuch as
ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be
revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:13).
Let us remember that God did not bring you this far to leave you.
Remember that Christ suffered much and died for you and I. Christ
said he who would not pick up his cross and follow him is not worthy of the death.
For it through Christ's death that you and I are reborn no longer enemies of God, but
now son's and daughter's of God's. Paul said he counted it all as glory.
1 comment:
God never leaves us nor forsakes. He tells us that in His word. When we feel like He is not there or He seems to have stepped away from us or perhaps it we think He is not listening. It is not because He has done anything of the sort because God does not lie. To leave us and or forsake us, would be going against His promise to us. So the only thing that it could be is that we as flawed human beings, are the ones who are stepping away from The Lord because of our sin nature. Sin big or small is just that, sin. Sin separates us from The Father. We "feel" like He is not there because of sin not because He has moved or gone against His word. We as sinners need to realize God is the same yesterday, today and always. The only ones who change and vasilate from Him is us thus we question God because we re flawed by sin.
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