...what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
Psalm 8:4
New International Version (NIV)
When we look at the troubles that we have or the grander scale of the troubles in our world, we might be tempted to ask why God allows our suffering and sorrow. It's a common question among believers and a taunt from those who mock God. If God truly has all the power that He is said to have, then why does he allow the bad things to keep happening?
Why indeed! Since we are not God, we cannot understand all of his ways. We humans want reasons for everything. We want easy answers and sure solutions. This is also something that we often don't get. Life is complex! And if our little lives are so complex, imagine the great complexity of the boundless eternal God Creator.
We can't even figure out why others or even we ourselves do some of the things we do. Things that happen in our lives are partly due to consequences of our own actions or the actions of others. Many of the bad things that happen are preventable, but hindsight is usually the instructor in those cases. Do we learn from our mistakes?
Troubles, tragedy, pain, and suffering are all a part of life. God's hand may not always be evident, but He is there. We are His people, not His puppets. If He intervenes, He has His reasons. If He does not step in to stop a bad thing, then in that instance as well He has His reasons.
Let God be God in His time as we live in our time. Our time with God will come in due time and then perhaps our questions can be answered.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6-7
New International Version (NIV)
Good answers to difficult questions, Arlee.
ReplyDeleteWhole books have been written that address these sorts of questions.
ReplyDeleteSomething I have said many, many times over the years is this:
Very few people learn anything without first experiencing pain. There are different types of pain: physical, mental (or emotional), and economic. One could even reduce them to two: physical and mental (emotional), because economic pain really results in mental anguish or anxiety. (I'm tempted to add the category 'spiritual pain', except even that could probably be adequately filed under the 'mental / emotional' label.)
It is from experiencing some type or form of pain that most of us eventually learn valuable lessons in life. Now, if a good God always stepped in to save us from pain, few if any of us would ever advance in knowledge beyond the point where we currently stand.
And I would further argue that our lives are really lessons meant to teach us to remember WHO and WHAT our authentic identities really are: We were created IN, OF, and BY God - a perfectly Loving, spiritual being. What a shame it would be if we never experienced any pain and thus never remembered our true identities. What a shame if we never fully realized that we were created "in the image of God".
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
Hi, Arlee. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this topic. We can only hope that people learn from their mistakes. Just as we hope that people learn from history, so that the mistakes made in the past are not repeated. I do try to learn from my mistakes, but there are the occasions where it takes me 2 or 3 times before it sinks in to do something different.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to thank Stephen for sharing his comment. Well said.
I second the fact you raised this subject, We have to learn from our mistakes or future generations will have worse problems.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
Thanks, Arlee
ReplyDeleteI live by your quote, in daily gratitude...
"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
1 Peter 5:6-7
This is so hard to remember sometimes. There is so much suffering in the world. The news has me down lately. The NFL player arrested for murder, the Zimmerman trial, the IRS scandal, Benghazi, even Paul Deen's troubles. She is being treated so badly, I wrote a post about it. I'm ready for Christ to return. :-)
ReplyDelete