Why Me Lord?

Why? How can three letters evoke so much anger and worry? We ask these questions and more:
"Why did this have to happen?"
"Why did I lose my job?"
"Why did he die?"
"Why?" "Why?" "Why"

The more I look at that word the less I understand it. It's a good word. It is solid yet flexible, demanding but gentle, firm and soft all in one. It's a word I am sure God hears all the time. "Why, God?" It can give you all you need to succeed. If you ask it enough times you will gain enough answers to move ahead, move on, move up or move out. Take away the question mark and it still demands an answer...why.

When I was a child my parents would always reply, "Because I said so." It meant they really didn't have a why. It was just the way it was. So I looked up "why" in the dictionary and found a definition made up of other questions: Adverb: 1. for what? for what reason, cause or purpose? It's also a noun and an interjection. I don't know why. It just is.

Still such a simple word can keep us up at night as we toss and turn wondering "why?"
I do believe it comes before the question "How?"
-I want to know why something happened and then how.
-I want to know why God is so good to me. I already know how.

I do know why such a small word has such an big impact on our lives-because of our faith.
We know God holds all the answers. We ask "why?" of God and He doesn't just say "Because I said so." Although on His authority, His Word, He could easily say that. Instead He shows you, He leads you, and He takes "Why" and turns it into "how."

In the end we really just want to know how to move beyond the "why." In many cases we are never fully satisfied with the answers. We want to know what to do about it, how to respond to it, and how to learn from it so that we are not crippled by the event. However you can spend a lifetime asking the question and waste a lifetime waiting for an answer. When I don't understand something I have stopped asking why of God. I get right to it, right through it by saying "I don't need to know "why" just help me to learn "how" I can live with it."

In our pain and sorrow-filled days people often offer us what they believe to be comforting words..."It was God's Will." "It is beyond our understanding." "No one knows the mind of God."
As true as that may be, we find little comfort in it. Our pain is real, it's happening now and we demand an answer. Yet when the tears dry up and the pain fades to an acceptable level we then begin to reconnect with our Creator. He was there all along. We let go. Suddenly the light breaks through the darkness. Comfort and warmth embraces us. It is then we hear His voice more clearly. We move beyond the "Why?" into the peace of His love. We may not understand the "why", but we understand His love.