Surely there must be a reason for it all?

Do you ever wonder why you are singled out for something in your life? As though someone had dipped their hand into a cosmic raffle jar and pulled out your name and suddenly your life was turned upside down, or suddenly you find out your sick with something incurable, or your job and security suddenly vanish? Do you find yourself wondering what you may have done - if this is the big ol' cosmic karma roller coaster ride, and it's your turn to find yourself bound and struggling on the tracks? Do you ever in your quiet time turn your eyes heavenly and ask the forbidden question, "why me, God?" Do you ever find yourself wishing for the end? Hoping for release?


You are not alone.

Times like this can try even the best of us. Job - a man that GOD said was without sin and perfect - found himself asking these kinds of questions. He found himself wishing he had died at birth! He found himself wishing to simply die and have done with it all. Often times we mistakenly think that if it can happen to an upright man like Job, then it's patently obvious it would happen to us. But just because it happened to Job, why would we naturally assume that we're more deserving than he was of testing? Of pain? Of hardship? Of loneliness? Of being hurt, betrayed, or slandered?

"Friends" would tell you that possibly you deserve it for some past wrong. Others may suggest it's the result of unrepentant sin in your life. Yet others may say you're only getting what you deserve. But let me ask you - does that make the enduring of such trials any easier? Not at all. Where are the friends that will simply come and sit beside you in silence and endure the long hours with you? Where is the family that's supposed to support you and not judge you? Where is God when all of this is going on? Why does it seem as though you're in it on your own?

It's because we tend to assume the worst of God, and believe the lies the Accuser whispers in your ear. "You deserve this." "What goes around comes around." "Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind." "You don't deserve better."

They really are lies, you know.

God's heart for us is tender, compassionate, and loving. Does that mean that there won't be consequences of sin in our lives? Of course not - but our consequences are not God's punishments. Like a loving father, God will drive foolishness from our hearts with the rod of correction, but he never leaves us in our sorrow or pain. Jeremiah - the "weeping prophet" understood what God's heart is for His children. The Lord revealed to him His love and compassion when He said, "For I know the plans I have for you... they are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." (Jer. 29:11)

Can God lie? No. It is impossible for Him to do so. So, can we believe Him? Certainly. He went on to share more with Jeremiah when he said, " In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you! I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes! I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and I will bring you home again to your own land." (Jer. 29:12-14) Some would say that this pertains only to Israel - and it certainly did when Jeremiah received these things, but as believers, we can claim the promises given to Israel of old, and we can trust in their fulfillment in our experiences.

Times are hard. People are out of work. There is untold suffering in this world, and yet, it is NOT God's plan for us. Does He allow things to happen in our lives to draw us to Him? To teach us? To correct and direct us? Absolutely. But His plan for us to give us a future and a hope.

A future and a hope you say? Yes - exactly that. We live in a horribly fallen world. There is a lot of pain and suffering - but our future - and that which gives us hope, is knowing our place in the Kingdom of God. As heirs with Christ, the home God spoke of - the one He will bring us home to? That's His Kingdom. It's ours through the process of adoption, and through the shed blood of Christ.


A study done by John Hopkins Medical Center recently, showed that patients who were given hope and encouragement had a more than 75% rate of successful recovery, as compared to only 17% of patients in the control group. Hope is powerful. Hope keeps people alive through difficult, life-threatening, dangerous, or even painful experiences. Study after study has shown that persons in life or death survival situations who exhibit hope, stand a greater chance of survival than those who give up this precious and powerful gift.

Life on this ball of dirt can really suck. I know from personal experience. You do too. But standing on faith and securing an unshakable hope can make all the difference in the world. After all, aren't we told that, "God makes all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose?" (Rom. 8:28) So maybe in the end, all of our pain, heartache and sorrow in this life, will be the very tools the Lord uses to work immeasurable good in our lives, the lives of those around us, and just perhaps someone who hasn't met Him yet?

There has to be a reason for it all. I choose to believe it will be that God needed to shape me more, and make me more like Him.

Just a thought.