When life has been hard and painful. When the hurt runs deep, the questions can surface. The hard ones, often bringing discomfort and guilt.
Why me? Why does this life have to be so hard? Why can’t you just wipe this all out and take us all home? Why are we all being punished for the fall of Adam and Eve? Why? Why? Why?
These are questions most of us have likely had at one time or another. Their bitterness tainting our lips , running on emotion, and hopefully not burrowing into our heart. If we don’t pursue truthful answers, we can become stuck in this cycle.
We can not stop at the fall of man and ignore the rest of the story. Imagine if my only story was having been molested and the rest of my life story meant nothing. Couldn’t be seen by the blinding of that one horrible time? Depressing, right? Not only that but it’s not the whole truth. Not the whole story.
God didn’t stop with the fall of man. He didn’t stop with Adam and Eve’s story and neither can we. We have to take in the whole story. The love story that followed. God so loved humankind, He sent us redemption.
Which will you choose to focus on? The one important but small story or the whole picture of redeeming love that was given to us as the ultimate gift?
Tomorrow, we’ll talk more about the fall of man.
Do you ever find yourself questioning God? What do you think brings about these kinds of feelings and reactions? Do you feel guilty when you question God?
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
Oh Mel, this hit home. Hard. I feel ashamed when I have these feelings. I know the truth, I really do but sometimes, this life is so hard I just want it to be over. You are so right about the focus. I do this. I focus on the crap instead of focusing on all the love and good. Thank you for how you put this into perspective.
Questioning God just comes naturally when facing challenges in our lives, I think. Its hard not to question. But you are spot on when you say its not the whole story! Well said.
Las Vegas Mama recently posted..I Have Taken the Plunge
Whoa, Mel. I just had a somewhat similar discussion about this with a friend who has been walking a path of pain and suffering for years. She questions God and now feels He has turned His back on her, and she just wants to die. I’ve been doing my best to encourage her. It’s heartbreaking to watch her struggle and try to wrap her brain around why other close Christian friends of hers reap consistent blessings and favor from God, and when they do face trials, their prayers are immediately and amazingly answered. Her faith in God and in His love, is dwindling FAST.
After I got off the phone with her today, I asked God, ‘Really? Why does she NEED to keep getting pummeled like this? Is there no end to it? What’s going on here, Lord? What are we not seeing?’
I’m at a loss to guide her at times.
Pam M. recently posted..A Different Sort of Sunday – God Is Able, by Smokie Norful
That is so hard and can be such an easy trap to fall into. I have to ask myself, do I believe God? Do I believe His word is truth? Am I believing truth right now? Often times, what we see on the outside isn’t all that’s going on in that individual’s life. Her friends who she sees have instant prayer requests answered, may have something else they are struggling with and not sharing. It’s so easy to see someone else’s life from the outside and think they’ve got it made and are perfect. We can all put that mask on and often do. Perhaps God is trying to work this attitude out of her? Maybe her story is a threat to satan so he’s amping up the attack. Maybe you could set up a girls night out – a special one- where others share the hardships they’ve faced and how they felt during that time? Sometimes we just need to hear that someone else has gone through it and made it through. Just a few thoughts. I will keep your friend in my prayers. Ironically, I just answered a question almost identical to this in my Dear Mel column for the next issue of Christian Women’s Voice!
Hello! I have a couple of ideas to add to Mel’s.
We are designed and meant for love. Some people have given up on EVER being loved and think pity is the best they can aspire to. The problem with pity as the means for connection is that yesterday’s emergency is no good. It breeds a tendency to have a continuing supply of dire urgent events. My guess is that your friend may have made that decision.
The other idea is to point you to a couple of books. I say you, because when someone is at this level, she probably can’t manage to understand the truth it contains. Every thought she has is punctuated with disruptive, painful ideas. You can read these books and ‘spoonfeed’ her a few ideas a little bit at a time.
C.S. Lewis “The Problem of Pain”… Here’s a quick quote from that book. “[God] is not proud…He will have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him.”
The other book? The Wounded Heart… By Dan Allender. Yes, it’s about healing from a specific type of abuse which your friend may not have experienced. All trauma have common issues and here this book is amazing. Healing from trauma is really about believing that God can make the desert bloom anew.
I will definitely add some prayers to yours. As dark as her world is, His light is able to penetrate. Speaking purely for myself, my dark days were extremely bleak. Grace was greater. Maybe the biggest expression of that grace was to show me His own dark days. His passion and death proved that He wasn’t remote and insensitive. I pray that she can emotionally connect with His passion.
Mel, I just sat at my desk before popping on facebook and moving on with my day… as I attached my resume- once AGAIN- and cried out to God, why, why, why? Literally. SO yes, this really was well timed. PS, I started One Thousand Gifts – only got to read a bit but …tears already. In His Grace, Dawn
Dawn recently posted..Monday and Me- The Local Tourist
Oh I love those God moments! Praying you find the right job soon!
I am the ultimate questioner! But God always meets me in my questioning and reveals more to me because I openly seek answers. I look forward to continuing the story God’s writing for me, even if it’s not always been great.
Mel and Lost and Found Lady:
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and ideas, and for your prayers for my friend, Sheryl, as well. I appreciate them so much.
I’ll look for those books and offer her as much encouragement I can from them. Such a blessing!
Pam M. recently posted..A Different Sort of Sunday – God Is Able, by Smokie Norful
I believe we all will question God when we faced our problems. It is just how we manage to see this as a test from God but rather seeing God’s absent in our life.