Job 3:11-12 “Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?”
If you are current with the news, you would have heard of a 32-year-old project manger who was recently crushed to death in his car by a fallen tree. At the funeral, his aging wheelchair-bound mother and wife were in much grief, for what had happened was a great loss to them. The deceased was a young person; and if it wasn’t for the accident, he could have lived to a ripe old age where he could fulfill his obligations in life. However, death had arrived early for him.
This is one question that people would often ask when trials and storms of life start to gather around them—“Why do terrible things happen to good and decent people?” But before we can come to any conclusion, we may like to ask ourselves, “Do we know of any good person or anyone who is good?”
In the Gospel of Matthew, a young man came to Jesus saying, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” And Jesus said unto him, “Why callest thou me good, there is none good but one, that is, God?” When Jesus said, ‘Why callest those me good, there is none good’, one must note that Jesus did not include Himself in that category. The young man gave Jesus a title that belongs to God but regarded Him only as man, which was as good as relegating Him to be amongst the sons of Adam, of whom none could be counted as good. But Jesus is indeed the perfectly good man who is the express image of the invisible God and the first born of every creature. If none of us is good, it is because we are all sinners; and when bad things come our way, it is because no one in the fallen world is exempted from trouble. And life will continue to be filled with one question after another, of the many ‘whys’ in life: Why do I suffer? Why do my children suffer? Why can I not keep my job? Why do the wicked prosper? There is no end to such questions. No one can provide the best answers or effectively address the issues of life, but we can only say that trials and tribulations are lessons in God’s providence to bring us to spiritual maturity and ripeness in our faith.
There are no equivalent examples in the Bible to describe suffering on a bigger scale than that we can see in the life of Job. Job lost much by losing his family, fortune, fitness and friends. However, he did not lose his faith. The 4 Fs, or failures, that Job thought he had were not without purpose. It isn’t without purpose that the book of Job is written in the Holy Bible, for that is to remind us that none of us can be untouched by the troubles of this life.
Trials can make or break us. It can drive us to God or away from Him. But we thank God that life is not all about pain and anguish in suffering, for the victory of Job’s life gives us hope to look to God in such times. In chapter 42, verses 5 and 6 say “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job finally realized that it was not his sins that he was suffering from, but it was all for the glory of God.
Thus, our lives are about giving glory to God. Today, you may be in a “why” situation. You may be trying to solve it by yourself, or with the help from your friends, but why not bring your whatever “why” situations to the Lord, that you may give glory to Him.
Pastor Douglas Ho