I have a confession to make...and I wouldn't tell just anybody.  But I will share with you-just you.  Promise not to tell anyone.  Okay here it goes-I actually like Broadway musicals.  I got that off my chest and I feel better already.  I think I'm not alone but most guys wouldn't admit it.  Perhaps I should clarify and qualify my statement by saying there are a few musicals I like.  Rhonda and I enjoy a few immensely and have watched them repeatedly.  "Favorites?"  I'm glad you asked.  All-time favorites for me are:

Phantom of the Opera

The Music Man

Les Miserables

And my uno numero is:  Fiddler on the Roof.

 

This brings me to what I want to share with you.  In Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye is the village dairyman.  He is constantly questioning God and complaining to God about the way He runs the world.  One day as he is in the process of hooking up his horse to the cart he finds that the horse is lame in one leg.  So Tevye is forced to pull the cart himself through the village.  As he goes along he complains to God saying, "My horse is lame so I pull the cart.  Today I am a horse.  Where is the justice?  If I can pull this cart with two legs, why can't my horse pull it with three?"

 

Why? Have you ever ask that question of God?  If so, you are not alone.  Many of us-maybe most of us have asked "why?"  Did you know that even Jesus asked it?  When the Son of God became sin for us on the cross of Calvary, he asked of the Heavenly Father, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" 

 

When you study the sufferings of Job in the Old Testament, we find the lead character repeatedly asking God "Why?"  Though he is persistent in his questioning of God, he never receives a direct answer from God.  Why doesn't God answer the question?

 

C. S. Lewis explains that God could answer the "Why" question.  But we wouldn't be able to understand it.  The purposes of God are too complex for our finite minds to comprehend.  Remember the words of God:  "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways' declares the Lord.  'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts'" (Isaiah 55:8-9).   C.S. Lewis wrote that if God had answered Job's "why" question it would have been like Einstein trying to explain the Theory of Relativity to a small-necked crab. 

 

So why ask why?  A far better question is "How?"  How can I get through this great tragedy?  How can I bear this burden?  How can I face the future with confidence again?  How can I grow as a result of this experience?  How can this adversity be used to benefit others?

 

These are the questions which God is most likely to answer even as He has already provided these answers in scripture:

 

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God" (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). 

 

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

 

"Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7).

 

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). 

 

What you need most in your adverse situation is not an explanation.  Your greatest need is the presence and power of God in your life.  That is exactly what God has provided you. 

 

So if you want a good answer-ask the right question!  Not why, but How...

 

Blessings,

Pastor Ron