..........why..........

Have you ever uttered the words "Why is this happening to me?"  I mean, after all, we try to live right.  We pray, we go to church, we read our Bible, we try to be a good husband (or wife), but still this terrible thing has happened to me.  What did I do to deserve this?  Why did they treat me so badly?  Why do things happen to hurt me so much? Where is God when I need him? Why did he allow this to happen?

If you are looking for some fantastic, new revelation to answer these questions, you're going to be disappointed, because I don't have one. I have only the old answers you have heard before, but that doesn't make them any less true.

You see, more than likely, you don't deserve all the bad stuff that is happening to you. Where is God and why didn't he stop it?  He's still in heaven watching over his creation. Why didn't he stop it?  For the same reason he didn't stop it when they came and took his son to be crucified.

Some things we just have to see through to the end on our own - not because He doesn't care, not because He doesn't love us, but because that is one way our faith and reliance upon Him grows and is strengthened.

There is a good chance you have heard the following story, because it is a favorite of preachers. A man tells that one morning he had discovered a cocoon in the bark of a tree. He noticed that a butterfly was trying to emerge from the cocoon. He waited a while, but it took so long. Finally, he decided to help the poor creature along. Slowly and carefully, he tore the cocoon to help the butterfly escape. The butterfly started to come out, but its wings were folded back and crumpled. The butterfly valiantly struggled but could not make it and soon died.

The man had forced the butterfly to come out before its time without a struggle. As he held the little body in his hands, he realized the terrible thing that he had done. It was the struggle to come out of the cocoon that the butterfly needed to pump the fluids into it's wings and give it strength.  Without the struggle, it died.

If you're going through tough times right now or if you do in the future, don't label God as uncaring and don't give up on Him. It may be that you need to strengthen your wings of faith to be what you're supposed to be. If he reached out and interfered you may never grow into what he has intended you to be. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians "There hath no tempatation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that which you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it." (1 Corinthians 10:13)

 -steve blair