'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts'" (Is 55:8-9).
This seems tragic to me, because although God sometimes lets us in on some of his reasons for allowing things or doing things, most of the time he doesn't. We must realize that we are the created beings and God is the Creator. How could we understand his reasoning? Trying to analyze His omnipotence is like an amoeba attempting to comprehend the behavior of man.
When disasters strike, we feel like children at God's feet, tugging at his coat with the question, "Why?" It is human nature for us to want to understand each significant event in our lives. We feel that if we could just grab hold of a reason for each painful event then we could make it through to the other side. This pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps mentality has one major flaw: If we always have a reason for things, we will be tempted to rely on ourselves during our pain rather than turning to God. We are not meant to understand; we are meant to trust.
God's reasons are beyond our created minds. He does not promise us any explanations on earth, but one day in heaven we will understand our pain. "Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (1 Cor 13:12).
How to Respond When Life Doesn't Make Sense
As with every disappointment, we have a decision to make when trouble or disaster strikes. How will we respond? The first part of responding correctly when life doesn't make sense is keeping our focus on God. At some point in our lives, we will all spin out of control. We won't know how and we won't know why. How we attempt to steer our out-of-control lives, however, is up to us. We can choose to focus on exactly why God has allowed this situation and how it came about, or we can focus on trusting God for the next step.
When disasters strike, we feel like children at God's feet, tugging at his coat with the question, "Why?" It is human nature for us to want to understand each significant event in our lives. We feel that if we could just grab hold of a reason for each painful event then we could make it through to the other side. This pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps mentality has one major flaw: If we always have a reason for things, we will be tempted to rely on ourselves during our pain rather than turning to God. We are not meant to understand; we are meant to trust.
God's reasons are beyond our created minds. He does not promise us any explanations on earth, but one day in heaven we will understand our pain. "Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (1 Cor 13:12).
How to Respond When Life Doesn't Make Sense
As with every disappointment, we have a decision to make when trouble or disaster strikes. How will we respond? The first part of responding correctly when life doesn't make sense is keeping our focus on God. At some point in our lives, we will all spin out of control. We won't know how and we won't know why. How we attempt to steer our out-of-control lives, however, is up to us. We can choose to focus on exactly why God has allowed this situation and how it came about, or we can focus on trusting God for the next step.
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed (1 Peter 1:6-7).
Michelle McKinney Hammond describes his care for our concerns: Just as single women can believe in God for everything except a mate and mothers can believe God for everything except their children, the same principle prevails here. We have trouble releasing our most precious things into the care of God. For some reason, we do not believe that what we view as precious is even more precious to God and that He is well able to keep those things we hold dear. How it wrenches our hearts when we have done everything we can think of, yet to no avail, and we are forced to release our dreams, our mates, and our children into the hands of God, stand still, and see His salvation.
If God loves us as much as he promises in his Word (see Jn 3:16), then he also is capable of taking care of those things we hold dear. When life doesn't make sense we should focus on God, remember his love, and finally take the next step in our growth. There are lessons that we must learn through painful circumstances that we could learn only by going through them.
Remember the story of Job? He lost his family, his wealth, his health, and his friends but grew closer to God. Ultimately, for Job's faithfulness the Lord blessed him with a larger family and more wealth than he'd had before. We must look for the lessons that God has in store for us during our trying times. It is all part of growing.
Michelle McKinney Hammond describes his care for our concerns: Just as single women can believe in God for everything except a mate and mothers can believe God for everything except their children, the same principle prevails here. We have trouble releasing our most precious things into the care of God. For some reason, we do not believe that what we view as precious is even more precious to God and that He is well able to keep those things we hold dear. How it wrenches our hearts when we have done everything we can think of, yet to no avail, and we are forced to release our dreams, our mates, and our children into the hands of God, stand still, and see His salvation.
If God loves us as much as he promises in his Word (see Jn 3:16), then he also is capable of taking care of those things we hold dear. When life doesn't make sense we should focus on God, remember his love, and finally take the next step in our growth. There are lessons that we must learn through painful circumstances that we could learn only by going through them.
Remember the story of Job? He lost his family, his wealth, his health, and his friends but grew closer to God. Ultimately, for Job's faithfulness the Lord blessed him with a larger family and more wealth than he'd had before. We must look for the lessons that God has in store for us during our trying times. It is all part of growing.
Though this kind of trust is against our nature and contrary to our logic, it is our only choice if we are to truly rest in God.
Prayer,
Dear all-knowing, all-loving Father, I am facing one of the hardest battles of my faith. You don't make sense to me right now, Father. I don't understand why things happen that you could prevent. My mind and my heart cry out for reasons and answers, yet I know that may not be for me to know right now. Everyone around me thinks I am crazy to remain faithful to you, but I know that it is my only choice. Either you are God in control of the universe or you are not God at all. I believe that you love me and want what is best for me, even when it doesn't feel that way. Give me strength and grace to fight this battle. Help me to focus on you, remember your love, and take the next step. In your almighty name, Amen
Prayers for When Life Doesn't Make Sense written by Brittany Waggoner. Brittany Waggoner is a student at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio, majoring in Broadcasting. She enjoys public speaking and has hosted shows on both radio and TV.
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