Why Me? – Why Not You?

Why Me? – Why Not You?


Do you know where light comes from and where darkness lives, so you can take them by the hand and lead them home when they get lost? Why, of course you know that. You’ve known them all your life, grown up in the same neighborhood as them!
Job 38:19-21 THE MESSAGE


I once had a conversation with a person, let’s call her Mary. She spoke of suffering the loss of her spouse and two children to cancer. She said it was unfair and that God had a lot to answer for. When my dad passed on, one of my brothers voiced his anger in that God did not spare my dad because the rest of us were lacking in faith to heal him. Mary and my brother’s anger and frustration are universal to the human experience. It’s really hard to lose someone you love. It’s hard when you have tried your best to live a good life, to honor God in all that you do and to help others, but the payoff is that your spouse leaves you or you lose your money or health. It makes sense that if you do well, you will get good back. Worldly wisdom has always taught, “What goes around comes around.” How about, “What you put out is what you will get back?” People that may not have even read the Bible will say to, “Treat others the way you want them to treat you” (Matthew 7:12). My friend “Mary” says that God has dealt unfairly with her. The biblical patriarch Job (pronounced “Jobe”) said the same exact thing. In chapter 23 Job says, “God has no right to treat me like this-it isn’t fair!”(THE MESSAGE Remix)

The answer to the dilemma of good people suffering is that. . . well, there is no good answer. We all suffer. That is the way it works. No, it does not seem fair that bad people “seem” to get away with proverbial and sometimes literal murder. It seems unfair that God-loving people should suffer at all. But, this world has been turned on its ear from the effects of sin. In this life, there is no escaping trouble.

I believe God’s (albeit lengthy) answer to Job’s question of suffering is a bitter-sweet one. First, consider the major fact that God has created everything, including you and me. Secondly, I think a translation of God’s answer to Job is something like, “If I told you the answer to suffering, you would not understand it. So, since you cannot see all the angles to this, just trust me.”

Sometimes I believe we are asking the wrong questions of God. Instead of asking why God allows suffering, ask God how we can honor Him in the midst of suffering? Maybe God allows His people to suffer so the rest of the world can see the difference.