His Ways Are Higher Than Our Ways

Age Old Question

Why does God allow some things to happen that just don’t seem to make sense?  Why can't I find a job to pay my bills, why did my spouse divorce me, why am I sick and experiencing continual pain, why did my Mom die, why why why!!! In my opinion, there is an important distinction between God allowing bad things to happen and God causing bad things to happen. Bad things happen in the freedom that comes with the free gift of life, given to us by a loving God. Faith is not an insurance policy. However, faith is a blanket of assurance that God will be with us no matter what we encounter. Sure God could step in and prevent things from happening. How do you know that He hasn't? We don't know how many times a tragedy was averted, but we do know of the tragedies or trials that God does allow us to go through. Still, we know that God is good. There are hundreds of verses through scripture that declare to us how good our God is such as Matthew 19:7, Psalm 107:1, Psalm 31:19, Nahum 1:7, and many others. So why does a good God allow bad things to happen to us?

Many Answers

For as many people that have asked this question, there are just as many answers. My short answer is that I have no clue as to why bad things happen to good people. Some people blame sin entering the world as the cause for disease, death, and any other trials we endure. There is some truth to that. Death did enter the world as a result of Adam & Eve's sin. But, why should we all have to suffer for someone else's mistakes? It's a fair question. Many Christians try to explain these things away, rather than concede the answer is not necessarily always clear to us. Fair questions don't always have what we might consider a fair answer. Proverbs 3:5 tells us, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;" Most of us are quite familiar with the verse in Romans 8:28, which says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” We also know that God sometimes works in mysterious ways. Isaiah 55:8 says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” 

If God can do the impossible, then why doesn't God stretch out his mighty hand in Hercules like fashion and save us from that snake about to bite us? I can only answer that from my own experiences. In my own personal life, God allowed me to go through a painful divorce, job loss, and gruesome injury resulting in a compound fracture to my leg.  Many other things in my life have been difficult. For the last 15 years, many other tragedies have been adding up. But looking back, I can honestly say that if I had not gone through those things, I would not know God at all. What's worse, a lifetime of pain or an eternity of pain?  God has had my best interests in mind sending me through each and every trial. It was going through the mud that made me clean. My heart was so hardened that it took a lot for God to get through to me. Most people ignore the God who made them until they realize they are on their deathbed. Many of us are Atheists until the airplane starts falling. But God gives all of us many chances in life to seek refuge from the pains in this life through many trials and hardships we experience. Sometimes, because He knows best, he continues to allow us to go through difficult things. He's eternal minded - something we often forget because we are temporal minded.

All Your Wishes Granted

Oftentimes, we ask God for things in prayer and it would seem as though He hasn't heard us or that He isn't answering us. When our car won't start, we ask God to put on his David Copperfield face and magically start the car for us. When we are short money to pay our house payment, we rub the vase three times and ask God as if He is a genie here to grant our every wish. We would do much better to treat God like He is God, rather than some magical fairy tale presence. God is not limited by our imaginations, understandings, or plans to fix a problem. He often uses unconventional methods to work in our lives in such a way that increases our faith and trust in Him.

Cyrus

God used Cyrus, who was the king of the Medes and Persia to wipe out the Babylonians.  The book of Ezra explains that Cyrus was doing the work of the Lord, as indicated by the phrase "in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah.” It is God who shapes history and the future. God was shaping the things to come for Israel, but they were scared. God wasn't working in a way the Jews could clearly see. Rather than trusting God, they began to turn to idols (other gods - genies, David Copperfield's  etc). God, being the loving God that He is comforted the Jews in Isaiah 41:8-20. Specifically in verses 17-20, which says, "The poor and needy are seeking water when there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I the Lord will answer them. I the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers in the desolate heights and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle and the wild olive; I will set the cypress in the desert, the plane tree and the pine tree together, that men may see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it." God is reassuring Israel that they were chosen and special to God. He further reminded them that even though they were going through a miserable time, that they still owed their allegiance to Him. Many of them began to worship other idols hoping to be saved by a more powerful idol god than the God of Jacob. Who do we turn to when things are not going the way we think they should? Many of us lean on our own understanding rather than a God who can do the impossible. Like Israel, we are special and important to God. 

God Of The Impossible

Luke 1:37 is a verse many of us love! “For nothing is impossible with God.” How amazing! Mary, who is a virgin at this point, asks the angel how it is possible that she is pregnant.  Part of the angel’s response to Mary, is that nothing is impossible to God. Can you imagine worshiping a God that had limits on his power? What comfort and joy we can have by putting our faith into a God who can do the impossible.  Let us not put our faith in other idols as did Israel when times got tough. Rather, let us keep our eyes on Jesus.  Nothing that happens can happen unless God allows it. We must remember that ALL things work together for our good. We must take into consideration that God’s ways are higher than our ways. We will not always be able to make sense as to why something horrible happens. But, we know that everything happens for our good in the long run, and we also know that in the end, God is faithful to us just like he was to the Jews in Isaiah.  There are many things in life that scare or worry us. Health issues, relationships, jobs, and much more. If we truly have faith, we do well to remember that since God’s ways are not our ways, we need not try to see the light at the end of the tunnel – God is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.  It is not our problem – It is God’s problem.  Sometimes we can’t see the way out of a hopeless situation. God is the God of the impossible and he uses unconventional methods often times to rescue us to remind us that He is God.  Let God be God, and just relax in who we are – His sheep. For myself, the answer to why I endure such painful things in this life are simple. God, who has my eternal best interest in mind, loves me more than I will ever understand in this temporal state of being.