Do you ever just want to scream out the question “why?” Maybe just yell at the top of your lungs in into the dark night sky? How about into a canyon and hear it’s echo? Maybe it is just a simple as in the middle of watching the news and a story breaks your heart. WHY? I have had a lot of extra time this week to ask the question “why” and even more time to try to figure out the answers.
I don’t know about you, but I like to plan and be prepared for what is to come. I don’t like to be unprepared and I don’t like looking as if I have no idea what is going on. At the very least, I like to have the appearance of being in control.
What I have been reminded of over the last weeks and months is this very simple reality… I am not in control. While I have the ability to make decisions and will get to experience most of the consequences, overall control is not in my grasp. None of us are in control.
I think about the people in Japan right now that thought they were in control just a few short weeks ago… now look at their lives – their houses – their investments – their everything. Everything changed in a matter of minutes. At this very moment, all of those people who thought they were in control are struggling to cope with a whole new way of life.
They may ask (and you may ask) “Why God?”
We need to remember that God is so much bigger than us and He is in control. It blows my mind to try to think outside of the human element for even a second and figure out what God is up to. Do you realize that He knew every little detail of our lives before we ever took our first breath? How is that possible? He knew that the earthquake would happen, the tsunami would happen, the cancer would happen, and the ________ would happen, and He is still able to work it all together for His glory… some how, some way.
There are times in life where life gets put into perspective. For me, one of those times is now.
James 4:14 tells us… Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
What is my life all about? How much longer will it go on? How much longer will I see family members on this Earth? Friends, neighbors, co workers… the list goes on. Who will go before us, who will bury us? We live as if we are never going to die but unfortunately, that is not the case. Death is a part of this life and it will come to each of us eventually.
Those wonderful thoughts that have flooded my mind have led me back to some other very basic questions…
Why are you here? Why am I here? What purpose are you and I supposed to have? How do we work into God’s overall plan? Am I doing anything to screw up His plan? Are we making the most of our time or are we wasting the opportunities that God has given us? What is really important?
Yeah. I know. Heavy thoughts. This is what happens when you lose control and all the pleasures of this world (our substitutes for real joy that are supposed to make you happy) fail at their job.
BUT… When you look at the questions above… when you come to realization that you were born to do more than just breathe and satisfy yourself, when you look to the true joy that is far beyond anything this world has to offer, life becomes a little more clear, even when you are not in control. Why? Because you know WHO is.
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