Life pounds hard. It can hit you so violently you barely keep standing. The hard knocks can also blindside you. One minute everything is going along as pretty as you please and then out of nowhere tragedy strikes. You never see it coming and it knocks you for a loop.
I know. I've seen it happen over and over again. One day a senior adult man bragged to me about how he walked two miles a day and still pushed mowed his one acre yard. Weeks later he got the diagnosis of lung cancer. Months later he withered up to half the size this handsome gentleman used to be. Days later cancer won. Ray was gone.
A man went to work one day as he did for decades. Only this day he did not come home. He had an accident at work taking his life. I recall the church mourning this young man's life. I played softball with him. He seemed way too young to die. He had a young family. He served faithfully at my home church. It seemed like such a waste. A widow had to learn to cope with life as a single mother.
There was young man who lived down the street from when I was a teenager. A night on the town partying and a horrific traffic accident followed. They could not get him out and he burned alive. His tormented screams for help and relief etched forever in the minds of the observers.
My little four year old sister drowned looking for our dog who had wandered off that day. The grass grew high shielding the dangerous water below. She could not swim. Those who found her think she never saw the water until it was too late. I grieve even now that I was not there for her that day. My brother and I were at school. How she must have screamed for help. Nobody heard. Nobody was there to rescue her. At least no human being.
I recently spent time with an elder couple who also lost a son tragically. We talked about him. He died over two decades ago. I asked them if it got easier. They both responded that they never will get over it. You just have to keep going. You live on with a hole in your heart.
There is the young man recently diagnosed with cancer who played football with my older boys. One day is a young athletic strong man and the next he is fighting for his life.
Then there are the young men and women physically, sexually, and psychologically abused. Often the scars left on the psyche are as bad as the physical scars. Deep emotional wounds that will be carried for the rest of their lives. Trust broken. Innocence violated. Love warped. Such people will live life guarded even from those who claim to love them the most the rest of their days if they do not get the proper help and God's healing.
Life is hard. This sin, disease, and trial infested planet promises no rosy future to anyone. This is part of the curse of sin that entered the human race through Adam and Eve when they bit into the forbidden fruit. Life on planet earth has been hard since that day.
Many would question the existence of God in the midst of such suffering and grief. Plenty have asked the questions, "Why did God allow this to happen? Why didn't God stop this? How can a loving God let such bad things happen to His own children?"
So why does God allow such awful things to happen? Theologians could give their two cents worth. They cite Bible passages and form arguments while sitting in the safety insulated from the pain in their ivory scholarly towers. It is a lot harder to answer that question when you are looking at the tear stained faces of those slammed repeatedly by life.
Why? A question often asked of God and His representatives. You will not like my answer but it the best and most honest response I can give. I DON'T KNOW WHY? I don't know why I sat in a funeral home for a tiny infant we had all prayed would be healed and live. I don't know why God did not heal the lady with cancer though she had scripture pasted on her walls about healing and answered prayer. I don't know why God took another lady who looked me in the eye and said, "I am going to kick cancer in the butt" . She had thousands praying for her. I preached her funeral with deep sadness.
I don't know why. My job is to keep on trusting. My job is to keep looking to eternity where God Himself will help us. I offer no trite and smug answers. I have not learned how to be a professional pastor able to stay emotionally unattached when the people I shepherd suffer. No. I sit back in grief with them. I ache with them. I struggle to keep believing right along side of them. I weep with them. Maybe I do not weep in public as to appear strong but I certainly weep in my prayer closet.
Where is God when all these bad things happen? That I can answer. He is there. He promises to never leave or forsake His children. He is there in tragedy. He is there in grief. He is there in death. He is there in moments of doubt, anger, and sorrow. He is there. Sometimes we miss Him because of the shock of the trauma of life. If we are still, if we look for Him, if we listen to His whispers in our soul He reveals Himself.
I received this very testimony from a lady who unexpectedly lost her husband. She testified that God was there walking through the pain, the grief, and the shock of her loss. She never had to walk alone. She is a precious soul. A prayer warrior. An encourager. She still laughs. She still has joy. She is also a great encourager. I thank God for her and the lessons I have learned from her.
I think of another widow. She lost her husband young with young kids to raise. She is strong. She raised her kids to be respectful and to honor her. She still keeps her late husband's memory alive for her children though she has remarried a long time ago. I have so much respect and admiration for her. She inspires me to keep pressing on through trials. She is a fighter. She walks deep with God. Her faith has been tested and proven. Though seldom vocal she certainly has encouraged me both with her life and with text messages over the years.
Life does hit hard. God is stronger. While we may not be able to control the hard blows of life no matter how well we plan God can be trusted. In the darkest hours of life He is still faithful. He helps us through what we have to endure.
On the other side of eternity I bet we will understand. Life will make so much more sense from that vantage point. Until then we have to keep trusting and keep enduring. And if it never gets better down here, praise God when the roll is called up yonder I will be there. All because of Jesus. His death. His resurrection. His salvation. I hope your name is on that roll too. Keep fighting dear ones. The road may get harder but heaven awaits.
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