I’ve given much thought recently to how unfair life can be sometimes. I can tell you the reason for my thinking along those lines… it’s because I, perhaps like yourself, busy myself with serving the Lord and doing things in His Name; yet, seem to face more and more opposition in the process, and struggle with things that the “lost” don’t seem to be bothered by at all. I often find myself palms up, shaking my head in question… “Why??”
All around us are the little things, as well as the big, that would cause us to pose this question. I think the biggest reason of all is that the enemy wants to take our minds off Jesus and to break that close communion with the Saviour. Satan would love for us to just throw our big pity parties and have our royal sinking spells, wallowing foolishly in the muck of all our woes. If we do that, we’ll feel low and defeated, with the attitude of “It’s all about me.”, rather than “Here I am, Lord, do with me as You will.” It’s quite a strategy, I’ll give him that. It happens to all of us, at some point in our lives. (Some of us happen to be “hard learners”.)
I can remember a few short months back, when I lost 6 of my beloved chickens (yes, “chickens”) to at least one hungry fox. My world came to a halt as I poured every waking moment into searching for, and then mourning for them once I realized they were indeed gone. Though merely “yard birds” to some, they were important to me. I took good care of them. (I spoiled them, even.) We had our little routines, which brought much happiness to this heart of mine. As crazy as it might sound, I’d often sit and watch them in the yard, or out by the garden, and I’d just thank God for this special blessing. So then imagine my disappointment when God didn’t allow them to stay with me. I wasn’t “mad” at Him, but I sure didn’t understand how or why this had to be.
I recall, too, how we’ve battled snakes something awful this summer, after we bush-hogged around the property. As a result, we’ve had to kill many of them, upon finding them in the hen house or there around. Who knows how many eggs we lost to those ugly slimy creatures! I can tell you, we lost 3 sets of bird eggs (my husband is raising homing pigeons). No matter what “preventative” we’ve used, we always seemed to end up with another snake to deal with.
We were so excited when Patty the Pigeon determined she wasn’t gonna allow a snake to get her eggs anymore. She sat on that nest night and day. I don’t think she ever got off of it, even to eat. I witnessed the other two birds bringing food to her on several occasions, which was a sweet blessing to discover how God gives all His creatures the intuitive skills to take care of one another in such a time as this. (We could all take a lesson there!) Well, the eggs hatched and the 2 baby birdies grew. They were the cutest little things, and it seemed Pete & Patty were quite proud of the fact that they’d succeeded in keeping their bird family safe.
But one night as we came home from Bible Study, we found that a snake was in the bird house… he had eaten one of the little ones, and had already killed the other one… apparently getting ready to eat it, as well. What disappointment we felt! After all we’d been through, here we go again! Why??
Mama taught me at an early age not to question God. But in our humanity, we often find ourselves doing just that. Why, if we’re doing all we can do to serve Him, would He allow these bad things to happen? (And yes, I do realize these particular things are incomparably minute, given the burdens and heartaches others face… but these are just examples I’ve dealt with recently. I, in no way, intend to trivialize anyone’s hardships, by sharing these examples.)
I believe God gave us an answer for all our “why’s” in His Word. One verse that kept coming to my mind as I dealt with disappointment is Matthew 5:45… “…for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Those words reminded me that good things happen to bad people and that yes, sometimes bad things happen to good people. Through this one verse, I was able to toughen up and deal with the fact that yes, things are often unfair. Foxes do kill pet chickens. Snakes do kill baby birds.
As I mentioned before, the more we try to serve the Lord, the harder satan will try to trip us up. He’ll use those things (and people) that we hold near and dear to our hearts, to try and turn our hearts against God. I think about Job, and all that he dealt with. God allowed trouble and heartache to come into his life…. for a reason. And praise God, Job didn’t waiver… despite the advice he received from family and friends. That’s the way I want my life to be… that despite all the obstacles I encounter, I will hold fast.
I’ve determined recently to make it a point, each time I’m drawn to ask of God, “Why??”, I’m gonna ask myself, instead, what Job’s wife asked him… “Dost thou still retain thine integrity?” That’s my own personal challenge, and I’d like to ask you to take that challenge, as well. Whenever you’re compelled to throw up your hands and scream, “Why is this happening to me?”, ask yourself, instead, “Am I still holding on to my integrity?” I promise, it’s a convicting question, one that will make you see things from a different perspective.
My prayer is that I (and you) would be like Job, whenever life seems unfair. He knew Who held his tomorrow, as should we. There's no need to worry and fret so, over things that might catch us off-guard and take us by surprise. Nothing is a surprise to God!
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