(photo by Celia Darrigo)
And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? (Luke 24:38)
Often, when we experience a death, a loss or a burden - we ask "why". Sometimes there is no answer to that question other than the words "God has a plan" or "God is in control". That is where our faith steps in and we must rely on HIM - totally. Logic dictates that there must be an answer - sometimes, it is not for us to know. God doesn't deal in logic - he deals in faith!
When I choose a doctor, I don't necessarily want the one with all the degrees after his or her name. Sure, I want someone who has been to college and med school, who successfully passed their boards and who practices medicine in an office as opposed to out of the back of their pickup truck. But I also want someone who has compassion. I want someone who understands the pain or can at least sympathize with it. I don't want someone who has never had to deal with whatever it is they are treating and whose only knowledge comes from a book. I want someone who is real!
When it comes to my God - I want the same thing! I know my God is compassionate. I know he understands my pain. He understands it so well that he sympathized with my inability to "save" myself and sent Jesus to take care of that for me. When it comes to knowledge, he knows everything - literally and figuratively! He has all the answers to every one of my questions. He is real! He is alive! He has saved me from certain death and in that I become whole.
The faith we are called to have is often very, very difficult to hold on to. It's never easy to walk away and say - "I don't need to know why; God knows why", but in that instant where we can place it at the foot of the cross and say - "Jesus, this is yours - I trust you" - we have once again stretched our faith a little bit further. One day, we will instinctively be able to have that faith that causes us not to worry, not to fear and not to ask "why". It comes through prayer and meditation on his word, it comes through praise, it comes through doing his work in an unpretentious manner. Sometimes slowly, but eventually without hesitation. Turn it over to the Lord - he knows why even if we don't.
