Adversity
Imagine sitting in your home on a late spring evening. Storms have been forecast to be severe, but those warnings are put out multiple times every spring. The tornado sirens sound... you think to yourself... "it probably won't hit here... they'll stop soon." The fabled sound of a train grows louder. The reality sets in. You have only minutes at most, likely less.
Minutes later you push debris aside in an eerie silence only interrupted by crying... As you look around to check on you family members, you hear a neighbor down the street yelling, trying to locate his own family. The surroundings are surreal.
After briefly assessing the situation and realizing what has just taken place, you ask yourself:
Why?
What did I do to deserve this?
***
God is most certainly big enough to handle our questions of why. His grace is most certainly extensive enough to cover even our blaming him for our loss. Just imagine... life as you knew it even one hour ago has changed forever. Your home is reduced to rubble. Your car/truck, if visible from where you stand is now incapable of moving on its own wheels. The business where you work has suffered the same kind of damage... a mass of crumbled concrete and twisted steel. All of the material goods that you have struggled and scraped for, things you had financed to the hilt are now nowhere to be found, or at the very least, unrecognizable from their original form.
WHY, God?
John 9:1-3
New Living Translation (NLT)
John 9
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
1 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 "Rabbi," his disciples asked him, "why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents' sins?"
3 "It was not because of his sins or his parents' sins," Jesus answered. "This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.
Do you think the blind man didn't ask WHY? Hopelessness lived at his door daily. Thoughts of being "normal" of living a fulfilled life were not a reality for him.
BUT...
God had a plan!
Even the disciples, the hand-picked students of Jesus Christ asked the question... WHY? Jesus gave them an answer... "so the power of God could be seen in him".
Sometimes we don't get the answer we are looking for. Sometimes it seems we don't get an answer at all. Sometimes, as hard as it may be... we are left wondering. God told Isaiah:
Isaiah 55:8-9
New Living Translation (NLT)
8 "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD.
"And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
God is sovereign. He owes us no explanation for His actions, what He does directly by His hand or what He allows in nature. However, he went on to give Isaiah a promise...
Isaiah 55:13
New Living Translation (NLT)
13 Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow.
Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up.
These events will bring great honor to the LORD's name;
they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love."
Just as the blind man's blindness was not a curse for his sins or those of his father, neither can we assume that the forces of nature are a direct judgment on an individual or individuals for something they have done or that their community has done... contrary to the beliefs of some misguided individuals. Although we can't understand the reasoning... how can anything good come of this... we can rest in God's promise given to Isaiah above.
Ponder this thought by A.W. Tozier...
"It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply."
— A.W. Tozer
The big news networks have moved out of Joplin and on to other stories. You won't hear about the blessings that affected residents have experienced as a result of the recent storms. You won't hear about people coming from the outer ends of the country to volunteer their time, money and talents to help others. You won't here about how those volunteers have been blessed and ministered to by just offering a helping hand and a compassionate word. Lives are being changed through such a catastrophic event, and in a positive way for eternity. Hearts are being changed of both the "victims" and the "volunteers". Compassion is being shown on both sides of the coin that likely would not have been seen without such an event.
Why? Only God knows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1DmluHqdBM
