This last week, in response to my blog post, “God is Love”, a friend posed the question, “Where is God’s love in situations like the Ukrainian crisis? Why does He let hurtful things happen?”
These are questions we all struggle with. “Where is God when bad things happen?” “Why doesn’t He intervene and stop tragedies like the Ukrainian War or the shootings in Buffalo?”
Even the great men of God through the ages have asked similar questions. Job, from the depths of his misery asked, “Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful?” (Job 21:7 NLT) “Why doesn’t the Almighty bring the wicked to judgment?” (Job 24:1)
Even David, whom God called His friend, questioned God, asking, “O Lord, why do you stand so far away?…Why do the wicked get away with despising God?” (Psalm 10:1, 13). “Why do you hold back your strong right hand?” (Psalm 74:11).
Yet even though they questioned God’s mercy and wondered why He often didn’t intervene, Job and David never gave in to their doubts. They never stopped trusting in their Heavenly Father, never doubted His love. In fact, Job declared, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him…” (Job 13:15 KJV).
How did David and Job and so many others find the faith to believe and trust, in spite of hardship, disappointment, and injustice? Paul answers that question in 2 Timothy 1:12, where he says, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
Knowing God is the secret to peace and happiness, even when the world doesn’t make sense. When tempted to doubt God’s mercy and His love, we need to cling to Him instead, focusing on knowing Him better, spending time talking with Him and studying His Word. When we do this, we will come to know Him like David, Job, and Paul did, and we will then experience for ourselves “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding.” (Philippians 4:7).
Jesus warned us in John 16:33, “In the world ye shall have tribulation”, but He added, “but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” We may not understand all that is happening. It may be hard to see God’s hand at work in world events or feel His love when our world is falling apart around us, but that doesn’t change the fact that the one who gave His only Son to save us loves us with an everlasting love.
Someday all these things will be made clear. Until then, when tempted to doubt God, to ask “Why?, instead concentrate on your relationship with Him. Learn to “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Have a wonderful week and, no matter what, “Trust in the Lord”.