Why?

Good morning, afternoon, good day. Good both of you all. Well, as was announced, it's one of these bittersweet things. We're very excited about the opportunities that are ahead of us. What you miss the most when you leave Virginia is one of the most beautiful places in the country, but it's not the landscape. It's always the people. But the beautiful thing about the church is you're not saying goodbye. But one thing, you know we're going to see each other, to see somewhere along the way. You get to spend those times. We'll try to come back. But what we're doing in life is training for an eternal relationship, right? So there's always many more times we'll see each other if we do the right things along the way. But thank you so much for making us feel so special in the seven years we've been here, for putting up with us and for all the wonderful memories along the way. One of the things I enjoy when you get emails coming through is you probably have those emails that start out along the top and they say, You know it's going to be a bad day when? You receive those? I get those and I get a chuckle because you always know there's going to be some funny scenarios. And there'll be things along the lines of, you know it's going to be a bad day when your doctor tells you, Well, I have bad news and I have good news. Or you know it's going to be a bad day when you go to the bank to make a withdrawal and they laugh at you.

You know it's going to be a bad day when you wake up in the hospital all broken and bruised and your insurance agent tells you that your accident policy covered falling off the roof but not hitting the ground.

Either way, we all face tough times in life. The natural reaction when that happens is to do what we did when we were children. And first of all, I apologize. Great job, children. Thank you so much for that. Didn't mean to skip that along the way. But we fall back to what we did as children, right? We say why. Children love to ask the question why. Why do I have to go to bed? Why can't I have that? Why do I have to pick up my toys?

But you know what? When we face things in life, we ask the same question, don't we? We ask why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? Why do innocent children die? Why do thousands of people starve to death? Why do three thousand people have to die or lose their lives in the World Trade Center? Why is there so much pain in the world?

So we ask these same things in life. And when we face tough times, or I'd argue even in situations that are slightly less than optimal in life, our natural tendency is to ask why. So here's a question. Who are we directing that question to when we ask why? I would argue that it's certainly more than self-reflection. It's more than being directed to the few friends who are willing to listen to you when you're in a why mode. Most of the time, I would say, we're probably intentionally directing that to God.

Why me, God? Why? The times we often ask God why are when bad things are impacting us in life. And so we come to God, and it actually, the first one that I had written here, actually speaks very much to what we heard in the offertory.

We come to God, and we pray for blessings. We pray for prosperity. We pray for peace. We pray for comfort, for our families and protection while we sleep. We pray for healing, for God's mighty hand to ease our suffering. Wonderful things! There's nothing wrong with that. But, what happens when what we request doesn't happen? Where are we at then? Do we question God? Do we ask God why our will didn't take place? Do we feel like God is no longer there? Those are the tough times in our life. And interestingly, the human nature when that happens, is we forget about all the blessings that we've had along the way.

We forget about the promises that are throughout the Bible. They're all over, but they don't seem like enough when we don't understand why. And the why is in our lives. Today, I want us to think about our motivation when we ask God the question, why?

What is your motivation? Because we go to God and we pray to God for wisdom, right? We pray to hear God's voice, but do you really want that? Do you really want to hear that? If you will turn to Isaiah 55, verses 6 through 7, it will start there. Isaiah 55, verses 6 through 7, a benefit of being called is we shouldn't have to always ask God why things happen in our lives.

Don't if you ever thought about it that way. But a benefit of being called is we shouldn't have to always ask God that question. But what are your motivations when you approach God and you wonder why? We're going to start by looking at what the Bible says is the proper perspective that we should have when we approach God. Isaiah 55, verse 6, So if we start by seeking God with this frame of reference, with this viewpoint, then God will bless us. There are two degrees of understanding in this world. There is ours as humans, and then there's God. And we see that contrast in the next verse, verse 8.

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. A child will always want to argue their point with their parents. We face it all the time with rudes.

We've raised him up to ask us why, and now we question why we raised him up to ask us why. But a child has no understanding of the depth of perspective that their parents have. A child doesn't understand all the things that are considered by their parents. But we do the same with God, don't we? We don't understand all that God is working out in our lives. Usually when we approach God asking why is for one of two reasons. One is because we would like to understand better his reasoning.

But I would argue more often than not, when we approach God with why, it's because we don't like the outcome. Or we want to manipulate the outcome.

And when we approach God questioning the outcome of a situation in life, we're being rebellious. God's thoughts are farther above us than the heavens above the earth. That's staggering. That's a contrast that we have a hard time grasping. We think it's a long way away when we see a picture taken from the moon. You question whether that even qualifies as heaven. But that's how minuscule our thoughts are. And when we have that humble perspective, then we're starting to get closer to the right place of approaching God and asking why. But do we usually come with that mindset? If we don't, we're not ready or even able to approach God with that question. If you will turn next to Romans 8, verses 6-7. So is the lesson that I am trying to point out here that we should never approach God with the question why? Absolutely not. That's not the path I'm going down. But it's good to ask God why as long as we're trying to learn, as long as we're trying to understand. It's never okay if our goal is to tell God our way. What's your motivation when you ask God why? Romans 8, verse 6.

People often question God's way of thinking and acting. But realize when we start doing that, at the end of the day, our mind is enmity to God. It's constantly at war with God. So what is our motivation? Is it pure when we go to God and we ask the question why? So one of the lessons from today's message I hope you take is that we can't tell God what he should do. God tells us what we should do. And when we understand that, then we ask why differently. If we approach God knowing that he is loving, that he is caring, that he is always wanting to do what's best for us, then we don't ask why in the same doubting way.

How do you approach God with the question of why? Turn next to Hosea 4 in verse 6.

We ask to be anointed when we are sick. But let's be truthful. Aren't there times as soon as the hands are taken off your head you start doubting? I hope that's hurt. The mind does funny things because we are human and frail. It's just weak. But think about the common questions you come before God and ask. Hosea 4 verse 6. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because you have rejected knowledge. Now, put yourself in context there. I'm sure that the people that I was written about would argue and say, they were just trying to express their point of view to God. They didn't realize that they were actually rejecting the knowledge He was trying to teach them. I also will reject you from being priests for me because you have forgotten the law of your God. I also will forget your children. Why is there so much suffering in the world? One reason this verse says is because God's people are destroyed for their lack of knowledge. The type of knowledge we lack often starts when we don't agree with God. Because we reject God's knowledge, then, as Hosea warns us, God will reject us from being kings and priests. We just had the Kingdom of God seminar. That should ring a little bell. That means He's going to reject us from the Kingdom of God. That's scary. What's the approach we take when we come before God? Now, I'm going to turn the table a little bit. How did God approach Job when Job was asking God all sorts of questions? God responded back with questions in return. What would be God's response to us when we ask Him why? Some things He might say are, What if the trials of this life are God's mercies in disguise? What if God's future blessings in our life will only come to us experiencing raindrops today? What if God's spiritual healing will only come to us through our own tears? What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes for any of us to know God is near? God's timing is always right. Always. And if that's the case, then when things don't go our way, there's a life lesson in there somewhere for us to learn. There's something for us to take from it. We can only learn that, though, if we stop fighting God and start listening. And so the question is, do we? For the rest of the sermon, what I'd like us to do is to look at four examples in the Bible of Biblical heroes who approach God and ask why. Because the lessons that God taught them apply equally to us. So for the first one, if you will turn to 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 1. 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 1. Now we're going to look first at the example of Paul. And this is an interesting set of scriptures because in these verses you see two wildly conflicting situations. 2 Corinthians verse 1. It's going to start with a description of this phenomenal situation that he experienced. 2 Corinthians 12.1 says, God knows, What he sees me to be or hears from me. Can you even imagine that experience? I can't. I mean, what an amazing opportunity. I think the basic summary of it, I always get a kick out of Paul. Paul is the ultimate run-on sentences. If you ever try to see where a period is in his writing, you don't wait for a period. You just stop and go on to the next point. But he says this is inexpressible. If Paul, the person who can't ever find too few words, says it's inexpressible, that should be enough to tell us it's pretty impressive. But Paul didn't brag about it. Why? We find in the next sentences that God was using trials to help him keep the right perspective. Verse 7.

Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches in needs and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Paul had a health challenge that he had to deal with. And Paul pleaded with God to remove it. He thought it was so important. He approached God multiple times. And stressed that he could do so much more if this was removed. But God said no. Was it because God didn't love Paul? Of course not. God revealed to Paul the 3rd heaven. But God said no to Paul for a reason. And that's the first lesson I'll share with you. The lesson from Paul asking why is this? Who knows if God allows us trials to make us stronger spiritually? Who knows if God is allowing us trials to make us stronger spiritually? God knew that if Paul was healed, he might trust in the wrong things. And that was what he was doing for a greater purpose. Not the human way we think, though. God's strength is made perfect in our weaknesses. Paul got that. It took a while. It took multiple times for him asking. But he learned that lesson. Have we learned that lesson? Because it's a tough one. Rather than fighting God over the answer, Paul finally started recognizing. The same could be true with you. Maybe the thing we're struggling with the most is the very thing that's helping us overcome our own evil nature. Have you ever thought about that? Maybe today's trial is what will keep us in the kingdom of God. We don't know. Charles Swindell once wrote a very interesting story about building character. In the northeast of the United States, a big industry is codfish. But there is a big challenge. People like eating fresh codfish. But there is a challenge in shipping it. At first, what the fishermen would do is freeze the fish. But they found that took away the flavor. So they decided, well, let's go ahead and ship it in salt water. So we'll keep it alive. And then we'll go ahead and put it to death right before it gets served. But they found that not only was that way more expensive, it lost its flavor and it also became soft and mushy. So they were confused. They were saying, how do we let people enjoy codfish that are fresh? And finally, some creative person solved the problem. What they did is they put the codfish in a tank of water along with their natural enemy, the catfish. So from the moment that codfish was in that tank being shipped, it was running for its life. It was running around that tank. It was struggling. But you know what? When it arrived, it was fresher than ever.

Each one of us is in a tank of circumstances in life. We're in a tank of circumstances. And it's painful enough to just live life in that tank. But in addition, there are God-appointed catfish to bring us enough attention to keep us alive, to keep us alert, to keep us fresh and growing. The analogy applies. It's all part of God's purpose because at the end of the day, He's shaping our character for something that's far greater. Far greater than the next however many years you have in life. God said in the Sermon on the Mountain that we shouldn't worry about our lives. How often do you go to God and say, God, thank you for my problems? Probably never.

But instead, what we do is we approach God by throwing all of our problems toward Him and saying, God, why? Take Him away. That's oftentimes the mindset of questioning God rather than trying to understand the reasons and the intentions that He's teaching us. So what is our approach when we go to Him? Because the moment we begin to question and to doubt God is when we have little faith.

But we do that a lot, don't we? That's part of our journey. Instead, God wants us to look to Him and say, what am I doing wrong? What can I do better? Because God gives us exactly what we need, but not necessarily what we want.

And so the question is, what do we need to be learning from these situations? Let's go ahead and go to the next biblical example. And this is the example of David. If you will turn to Psalm 10 and verse 1.

Now, David was deeply loved by God, but a beautiful thing about the Psalms is you can tell that he definitely approached God a lot of the times and asked why. So he's a great one to learn perspective from. David was never afraid and had conversations with God. Psalm 10 verse 1, he says, Have you ever said that same phrase to God? Have you ever said, why do you stand afar off God? I have. There's times where I've said, I'm just not feeling it. This doesn't make sense to me. But notice David's motivation. David always asks to learn, to understand God's way. If you look in verses 16 through 18, we see the understanding that David had. Verse 16 says, Before we start discussing lessons, I'd like you to move forward a few chapters. Turn to Psalm 37 verse 9. Psalm 37 verse 9, we'll see another thought that David shares. It says in Psalm 37, So what's the lesson? The lesson from David asking why is this? Who knows if God will choose to wait before blessing the righteous and bring judgment to the evil? Who knows if God will choose to wait before bringing blood to the evil? Who knows if God will choose to wait before bringing blood to the evil? Who knows if God will choose to wait before bringing blessings to the righteous and bringing judgment to the evil? Now that's in our world of equity and fairness. That doesn't seem fair. But again, it goes back to our mind being carnal, right? Our mind not being able to grasp what God wants to teach us. You could say the entire lesson of the Psalm is basically that. The evil people may be temporarily blessed, but in the long run the righteous will be blessed. Isn't that what it says throughout all of the Psalms?

David didn't complain, but he asked why so that he could better understand. And when we do the same thing, we will be blessed. And we can gain the wisdom that we see in the Psalms or even in the Proverbs. If you'll now turn to Psalm 121, verses 1-8, Psalm 121, verses 1-8, David always had the attitude of looking to God for help.

And when we do things like that, we don't doubt. And that's the danger. When we start doubting is when we go down the rat hole of the question why. Psalm 121, verse 1, it says, I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your feet to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel shall never slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evils. He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve you going out, and you're coming in from this time forth and even forevermore. Wonderful phrases in there, aren't there? It says, God will never slumber or sleep. God is our keeper in our shade. So the lessons from David is, if we believe, God will ultimately preserve us from evil.

But it doesn't mean it's going to happen now. It doesn't mean it's going to happen tomorrow. But God will always preserve us from evil. Because David certainly faced a lot of hard times. You think of the struggles and suffering he went through. He absolutely faced that. But David had faith, and that helped him understand the whys of what was happening in his life. Even though sometimes it didn't make sense when his fear came and nearly went right through him by the king that he would promise to have his feet. That would make you wonder why. But God had it all worked out. Let's move on to a third biblical character, and that's Jesus Christ.

The suffering and the death of our Savior on the cross is the ultimate example of this message. Because, I can assure you, Jesus' mother, his disciples, his followers, that made no sense to see the person who was the Messiah. You know they had to go to God a whole lot of times after that happened and say, God, why? Why? This makes no sense. Why would this act of violence be necessary? Why was that suffering necessary? Well, three days later they figured something out, didn't they? If you will turn to Luke 22 in verse 39. Even Jesus gave us an example of being faced with deep anguish before his betrayal. And so, he knew the pain that was going to happen, and he talked to God about it. But when Jesus did that, did he question God's plan? Did he question God's will? No. Luke 22 in verse 39, it says, And that leads us to the third lesson with the question why. Who knows if we will be asked to suffer so others may be blessed? Who knows if we will be asked to suffer so others may be blessed? What are we here celebrating at the Feast of Pentecost? What was talked about in the excellent sermon before us? God's Holy Spirit being given to us. A strength and a comforter that makes things possible for us that we can't do on our own. But for Christ's suffering and sacrifice, we wouldn't have that. But that wasn't what Jesus' mom was thinking when he was on the cross. Our human minds don't capture all the things that we need to think about. The truth is that Jesus Christ came to sacrifice his life, that he had to overcome Satan, that he had to pay the penalty for our sins to make it possible for us to have the comforter that we celebrate today. The Holy Spirit that helps us. That's the why that history and God's perspective allows us to see. If you'll turn to 1 Corinthians 2 in verses 12-14. 1 Corinthians 2 verses 12-14. You could say that the entire piece of Pentecost is designed for us to learn the proper perspective when we wonder why.

It helps us see both the times where it doesn't make sense and the times where it all fits into perfect sense. God always knows what we need the most. And so stories like the sacrifice of Jesus Christ give us that comfort when we're in these situations and we're stuck. We're thinking, I don't know if this makes sense to me right now. 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 12. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches us, but with the Holy Spirit, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. That's the only thing that allows us to do that. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. Nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. All of that wouldn't be possible, but for Christ's sacrifice, but for what we celebrate today. We haven't received the spirit of the world, but the spirit of God. And that's what helps us to understand the things, the why's when they don't make sense, and the spiritual plan of God, and the future hope. Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? Friends, we don't know. We don't know. What we do have is the promises in the Bible. Turn to Romans 8, verse 28-31. Romans 8, 28-31. The perspective that we need to keep in mind when we want to question God is really captured in these verses. Wonderful verses. Romans 8, and we'll start in verse 28. It says, What then shall we say to these things if God is for us who can be against us?

That's God's word. That's God's promises. If we do it, we won't excessively dwell on the bad things if we think about these things. Because then the pain, the suffering, the loss, the hard times, those are all contextual. But when we're living in the moment, when we're living today, we don't have the wisdom to be able to do that. So we say, Lord, why me? As opposed to remembering that all things work for the good for those that love God. Let me stop there, because I have to point out the rest of that verse.

If you want to believe that verse, you have to connect the first part of the verse with the second part of the verse. The first part says, all things can work for good to those who love God if we are called according to His purpose. Ah, there's a caveat. If we are called according to His purpose. What does that mean? Well, you can get that's the key, but look in verse 29, and it'll give you a feel of what that is. It says, for those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. So, God's purpose is for us to become Christ-like. It's for us to become loving, compassionate, forgiving, and totally committed to the will of God. Which means, why is it going to happen in our life? That wouldn't be what we would choose, right?

But that's the lesson that we're to learn. Let's go ahead and move on. It looks like I may take you a couple of minutes over, because I have something I'd like to finish this with. Let's go to the fourth person, and that is Esther. If you will turn to Esther 4 in verse 1.

King Xerxes ruled Persia with a rod of iron. He was an absolute sovereign king. Now, that doesn't make sense to us in this day and age. We don't know what true absolute rulership is. All he had to do was blink his eyelash, and somebody would be put to death in one of his 127 provinces. And those provinces ruled all the way from what we would normally say is Turkey, down to Ethiopia, all the way to India. Huge area. I want them dead. They're dead.

Now, he had a right-hand man named Haman. Haman was totally evil. His greatest desire in life was for everyone to bow down to him. He wanted to be worshipped. And so he was so angered that one person didn't bow down to him, Mordecai, that he wanted to put to death all the Jews. That's the context of what we're reading. And to add a little bit of the grease to the fire, you say, oh, by the way, if you kill a Jew, you can have their possessions. That's a little motivation. Esther 4 in verse 1. When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out in the midst of the city. He cried out with a loud and bitter cry. He went as far as the front of the king's gate, for no one might enter in the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. And in every province where the king commanded and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews with fasting, weeping, and wailing, and many laden sackcloth and ashes. So Esther's maiden eunuch came and told her, and the queen was deeply distressed. Then she sent garments to blow Mordecai and take his sackcloth away from him, but he would not accept them. Then Esther called Hethek, one of the king's eunuchs, whom he had appointed to attend her, and she gave him a command concerning Mordecai to learn what and why this was. So Hethek went out to Mordecai in the city square that was in front of the king's gate, and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him. And the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay in the king's treasury to destroy the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the written decree for their destruction, which was given and so forth. So he returned and told them. Now, as unlikely as it would be for this day and age, it was a law at that time that nobody could have approached the king unless he had requested them, even the queen. And unless he lowered his scepter, which was the sign of willingness, that person was immediately put to death. Again, welcome to absolute rulership. Esther kind of liked her head. She didn't want it chopped off. So she wasn't really sure she wanted to take that risk. And Mordecai gave her some wisdom that's just equally meaningful to us. Verse 10, Then Esther spoke to Hathak and gave him a command from Mordecai. All the king's servants and the people of the king's province know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law, put all to death, except the one whom the king holds out to golden scepter, that he may live. Yet I myself have not been called to go to the king these thirty days. So they took Mordecai Esther's words. Now listen to what he said. And Mordecai told them to answer Esther, Do not think in your heart that you will escape the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you were called to the kingdom for such a time as this? That is the fourth lesson to keep in mind when you wonder why. Who knows if you were called for such a time as this?

We commonly go in prayer to God and we say, Thy kingdom come. What does that mean? That means we're saying, God, I understand that in a kingdom there is one king and there is one throne. And that king is absolute ruler. I accept that. I want you to take control and to lead my life. That's what we're saying.

But when we start asking why and doubts, we're questioning that.

What is our approach? There are going to be times when we're asked to face tough times in life to achieve the greater good of God's plan. Unfortunately, one of the biggest struggles for us is we know with us moving, it may require other people here to have extra responsibilities placed on you. That breaks my heart. I'm sure somewhere along the way somebody will receive a blessing on the other end because ideally we can help them out. But who knows if you were called for such a time as this? You may be asked to do things you say, I'm uncomfortable with it. Whose mind is making you say, I'm uncomfortable because I'm uncomfortable being up here. But it's realizing that's not up to me. It's what made it possible for me to speak every now and then. Who knows if God calls you for such time as this? What were we called for? We were called because God has a job for us. Why does he turn away from us from time to time? There's various reasons we've talked about today. Sometimes it's because we rebel. Sometimes God is teaching us a lesson. And sometimes it can ultimately help or bless others. Regardless, the key is to remember that God is merciful and wants us to succeed. You may remember I started earlier in the sermon and I mentioned a phrase, What if trials of this life, the rain, the storm, the hardest nights, or God's mercy in disguise? Afterwards, you can tell me if something you knew where that came from. But it comes from a song called Blessings, which is interesting tie in to the offeratory, written by Laura Story. Very powerful song. It's one that really moved me when I heard it at the feast. And I'd like us to finish, so cue to the sound, man. But I'd like to finish with that song. Think about the words. We may not always understand why, but we're fortunate to know there's a God in Heaven who does and who loves us equally.