There is so much in life that can leave us wondering. There is so much pain in life, so many injustices and so many situations that leave us questioning, is there really a God? How can a God of love let all of this go on? If He loves me why do I hurt so much? Why do I see so many suffer? Yes, it all leaves us wondering...especially in this economic situation that is bringing about more suffering for so many.
There is no getting around the fact everyone suffers, some more than others. But "why" is a good question. In fact, "why" is one of the most important questions a person can ever ask in their life. Most of us question "why" when we are in the face of extreme hardship or constant pain. In response a college professor wrote in his book: "Our questioning is not really from a desire to know the particular meaning of the particular event. More importantly, it is from a desire to be assured that it has any meaning at all." In other words, does my suffering serve some purpose? Is there meaning behind it? Or rather is it pointless and arbitrary? Is it simply another random occurrence in this mixed up hurting world? Bottom line does suffering serve a real purpose?
According to one cultural view of "Why do pain and suffering exist?" It has been estimated that more than 300 million people adhere to Buddhism, embracing what they describe as The Four Noble Truths:
1. All is suffering.
2. Suffering is caused by desire/attachment.
3. If one can eliminate desire/attachment, one can eliminate suffering.
4. The Noble Eight-Fold Path can eliminate desire.
The proper Buddhist response to suffering is to attempt to eliminate desire by pursuing The Noble Eight-Fold Path: right views, right intent, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. Hence, if one can control his own mind and behavior, circumstances need not change in order for the individual to overcome suffering.
Please understand, I am not a Buddhist but I certainly understand their logic. So hang in there with me to see where I am going with this thought. The Path, it seems, was designed with the intention of eliminating the emotions related to desire and those ignited by detachment from the object of desire. As for me, I have often been encouraged by fellow Christians to follow a similar path with statements of their guidance such as:
"You shouldn't feel that way, we are all called to suffer."
"Don't be angry, you are letting the situation get the best of you."
"Just let it go. God will take care of it!"
The fact is Christians are not perfect. Sometimes they say things that are roadblocks to our healing. God in His Word does tell us we can renew our minds, (...and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ( Ephesians 4:22-24) for He has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:6-8) He says, :" When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer. (Psalm 94:18-20)
For all of us, whether Christian or not our mind gets the best of us. It can control much of our emotions and the outcomes in our life. As a Christian, we can lean on Christ and trust in His Words to give us strength and encouragement. This gives us more strength, an outlet; something to lean on in hard times.
It is a fact, we can allow our emotions to get the best of us in hard situations, (even if we are Christians) and as a result, we sink into despair and often feel stuck in our situation with no way out. It happened to many in God's word as they doubted in their circumstances, "And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper..."(Romans 1:27-29) They allow the things of this world trap them. The stress discouraged their hearts and minds and they shut God out of their lives. As a result, "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." (Romans 8:4-6) "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Romans 8:5-7)
God does have purpose in our sufferings. Thus, He wants us to renew our minds. So we will continually look to Him. He encourages us by saying, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." God promises, "...and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him..."(Colossians 3:9-11) The fact is, you see, God will use our sufferings as we renew our minds to help others. For as we have been comforted us ourselves; we will then be able to comfort others through the knowledge God has given us.
Yet, as humans we will continue to ask "why" whether we are comforted or not. Even in our renewed mind, we will want answers. It is just human nature. We want to understand. The word says, "The mind of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge." (Proverbs 18:14-16) "Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge;" (Proverbs 22:16-18)
However, God reminds us that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways not our ways. In our humanness, we cannot understand fully why God allows the things He does. Have you ever stopped to think, if we did understand "all" we would become God ourselves.
God does want us to question and to cry out to Him, especially in our time of need. He wants to know our hearts and all the emotions we carry inside. In crying out to Him we learn to trust and let go of what is troubling us inside. Just look at David in the Psalms, he didn't hold back. He spilled his guts out to God. In turn, God placed praise and thankfulness upon his heart. Holding “it” in, gets us nowhere, yet dwelling on “it” gets us stuck!
We can choose to dwell on the negatives of our life or on the hurts of the lives of others, but how will that help us in the long run? Even the Bible speaks to this, "All this I have seen and applied my mind to every deed that has been done under the sun wherein a man has exercised authority over another man to his hurt." (Ecclesiastes 8:8-10) We can seek revenge for the hurt we have encountered or try to find a way to make things right in our own eyes, but in the long run we will not find peace. The fact is, unless we fully set our mind on God; to rest in Him and trust Him with everything in our lives we will never have true peace.
God promises, "I will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on me, because he trusts in God."(Isaiah 26:2-4) "And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-8) This is not an easy task. It takes practice. It is like the story a dear elderly friend once told me. She said, "Honey, when we turn things over to God and not worry we fully let go. You see, it is like writing a letter to God expressing all that is on our heart and mind, then we fold it, put it in an envelope, seal and stamp, but then when we take it to the mailbox we must let go. If we hang on to even one corner it will NEVER get mailed. When it doesn't get mailed we take the burden back and worry surrounds us." So I ask, are we letting go and letting God?
The Word says, "But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:30-31) Often when I am overwhelmed with worry or overcome with the stresses of this life I feel weary. I do not have the strength or motivation for the tasks at hand each day. I may find myself continuing to question God. I may even begin doubting Him and feel He is not hearing me. But God promises to be our strength in the time of need. He says He knows our need before we even ask. All we need to do it to call out to Him. He promises to hear our call. He wants to demonstrate love to His child...we are all His children and He loves us more than we can comprehend.
We are not alone in our wonderings. We are not alone in our "whys" for even in God's word we find those who questioned. In Jeremiah 12 It asks, "Yet let me talk with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?" You see, when we get stuck in the "whys" and allow worry and depression to overtake our mind we cannot bare good fruit. We feel stuck, as if we are frozen in our situation. At that time, it is difficult for us to put any good into action. God says, "I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings." (Jeremiah 17:9-11) Amazingly, we will find if we push ourselves outside of our situation and take action to believe God's Word, we begin to “do good” and in doing good we begin to feel better inside. It is quite the principal God has set up, give it a try; it is life changing, but it doesn't mean we will never struggle again.
The fact is many of us have struggled more than we care to recall. We may have searched for answers in this world. We may have trusted God at times, while other times we floundered. It is during these hard circumstances God wants us to remember the times He has pulled us through. He wants to encourage our hearts and give us hope. It is at these times, we must push our mind to recall what is good and to remember what God has done for us. "This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope." (Lamentations 3:20-22)
The evil one however, knows our minds can be weak. In fact, he knows our every weakness and so that is the place he will attack. In our humanness, we may not at first recognize that is what is happening, but with practice we can learn to protect our minds. God's Word tells us to call Satan on his lies and demand he leave us alone! "... “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Matthew 16:22-24)
You must know the evil one will not give up easily. He will continue his attack to try to get us to wear down, especially when times are tough. Satan doesn't want us to trust God for all our needs and rest in Him for the answers to every situation. The evil one wants us to doubt God and not believe His word, especially when finances are tight and everything seems to be going wrong. But God tells us, “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind." (Luke 12:28-30) It is true, at these times it can be so hard to put our trust in Him and not feel anxious, especially when troubles are mounting!
He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?" (Luke 24:37-39) It is so human to be troubled and to let the evil one attack our minds. He wants us to fail, to doubt and to suffer. I encourage you to look up to Christ; lean on Him in these times. Don't be like the verse of unbelievers, "They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand." (Isaiah 44:17-19) Don't allow yourself to fall into that trap. Don't allow the evil one to win! And for goodness sake, don't down yourself when this happens; instead see it for what it is or the evil one will gloat in your face. Work to renew your mind and lean on God. Ask for His help. Call out to Him and He will hear your cry. It is time to give the evil one a "kick in the butt" and don't fall into the trap of his schemes. God will work all what Satan has meant for bad and change it for good. He will use these trials to strengthen us and build strong character in us so we can use it for good.
So again, I encourage each of us to look to God. For it is He who will give us comfort and lead us to understanding. He doesn't promise we will understand everything on this earth, but He will give us peace. We can be sure His Word will comfort us and help us through the hard times. God tells us, "Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures." (Colossians 3:1-3)
As I stated before, we can't begin to understand the things of this earth. In our humanness, we can't fully know the "whys" of our circumstances, but we can have the assurance that God is here for us every step of the way. "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." (Luke 24:44-46) He has promised, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid." (John 14:26-28) Oh that we might know such peace! He tells us if we seek it we shall find it.
You may ask, how can we know such peace? How can we make it through these difficult times? What can we hang on to in this world? The fact is, this world shall pass away and material things will someday have no value, but what is in the heart will remain. God word tells us, "Jesus said to him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:36-38)
"And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment."
(Mark 12:29-31)
"So he answered and said, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:26-28)
So you see, to have true peace we must humble ourselves and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. At that point we can begin to learn what it means to love Him with all our soul, with all our strength and with all our mind and as a result we will have perfect peace.
But it doesn’t stop there, once we are in Christ, God provides us extra help to make it through the rough times. He tells us that His Spirit intercedes for us. "And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God."(Romans 8:26-28) So at that point, we will find we are a new creation, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." God will direct our paths and help transform our minds. He will help us find the blessing in each day, even when everything seems bleak. He will encourage our hearts. He will help us see more clearly and become all we can become in spite of our questionings, in spite of our wonderings and in spite of our doubts.
For as His children, "...as it is written: What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived—these things God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:8-10) You see, we may wonder and question all sorts of things in this life. As humans, we will continue to ask "why" and have our doubts. But yet we can be encouraged because there is hope! There is an answer to all this suffering in this world. All we have to do is believe!
For it is true those in this world will disappoint us and let us down. They will hurt us and discourage us, even while circumstances will weigh upon us and leave us with no hope. There will be little peace and rest for our souls. But remember, God is always with us cheering us on. He calls each of us to be encouragers too. He calls us to love one another through the good and bad times. So “brothers and sisters in Christ, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind; live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you." (2 Corinthians 13:10-12)
“Finally, may all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; “ (1 Peter 3:7-9) Encourage one another in these hard times. Share the message of hope. Lift one another up. For "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you." (John 14:1-3) For He has overcome the world! He is our hope! He is our strength! It is in our weakness He is made strong; thus it is then He holds us up and carries us. So rest in Him and have peace for today and all your tomorrows, for someday, we will have all the answers to all our "whys" and our wonderings.
