When You Want to Ask Why

My friend Randy Alcorn wrote in his book If God Is Good, “Most of us don’t give focused thought to evil and suffering until we experience them. This forces us to formulate perspective on the fly, at a time when our thinking is muddled and we’re exhausted and consumed by pressing issues.”

The point he’s making is that we need to think about this before trials come because when they do, we’ll have to learn how to trust God. Someone once asked me in an interview whether I’ve ever had a moment in my life when I had doubts or questions.

I said that yes, as a matter of fact, I did. I don’t know whether I’d qualify it as doubt, but it was a very hard time. That time, of course, was when my son died. I asked why. The question wasn’t so much why it happened to me, although I have to admit that I asked that.

I was really asking, “Why did it happen to him?” He was 33 years old.

I think sometimes we feel as though we have no faith in God because we question why.

Some pastors won’t tell you this, but I’ll tell you: there’s nothing wrong with asking God why. It’s okay. Don’t expect an answer, but ask away. If God were to actually answer you and say, “Okay, now I’m going to tell you why. Are you ready for it? Write it down,” we probably wouldn’t like the answer.

So, you can ask God why. Even Jesus asked, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46 NKJV).

I asked why for a while, but there was no satisfactory answer. So, I’ll go back to whom, as in to whom do I turn? The answer, of course, is Jesus Christ, because He’s the one who sustains me.