Asking “Why?”

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Your grandfather dies and you cry out to God “why now?”  The circumstances you find yourself in seem unnecessarily tough. Meeting the right guy or girl never seems to happen though you feel so ready. This week was one disaster after another. Someone who’s been through so much gets even yet more bad news.

Why?

Do you ever feel guilty for asking God “why?” Don’t. You aren’t the first –and you may not be sinning.

It isn’t disobedience to say, as the desperate father found in Mark 9:24 did: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” In John 11, we read about Lazarus’ death, Jesus’ weeping, and Mary’s words: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Think of the faithful examples in the Old Testament as well. Didn’t Job ask God why? And David? Consider his cry in Psalm 10:1 for example:

“Why, Lord, do you stand far off?

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?”

Can you imagine Joseph, a young man sold into slavery, not at times asking the Lord why He allowed these things to happen? In fact, Joseph referred to have sought a reason for why God allowed so much to happen to him, saying in Genesis 45:7 to his brothers: “But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”

Esther 4:14 also contains this powerful example of looking at the “why” of God’s work: “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?"

The prophets give us example after example as well. Just imagine Ezekiel’s question of “why” as God explained to Ezekiel that he was to be a watchman to a people who were hard, rebellious, and unlikely to listen to him. He asked Ezekiel to perform strange rituals as warnings –acts that often caused Ezekiel to live despised. What a futile task, it would seem!

But in all of these examples, in all of the implied and more direct “why” moments, God never rebukes His people. Our Lord never condemns any of us for asking “why.”

To ask God “why” often isn’t wrong at all. The confusion about this comes, however, when “why” involves:

• A test of His character
• A rejection of His will
• An act of disobedience

To disobey God, your intentions or actions contradict His Word, work, or person. You can ask why humbly, faithfully, and as a plea toward the perfect Lord. You can also ask Him why with the implication that He has done wrong –which is blasphemy.

Likewise, you can have doubt, you can struggle with unbelief, without sinning. Watch, however, that you do not act on doubt. To say, “because I don’t understand it, I won’t do it, Lord” negates faith. “Because I can’t grasp how you can be good and do this, I won’t go along with it” is rebellion and requires the pride of assuming you know better than He does.

Sin is sneaky like that. Satan clouds and distorts the truth to trick us –that’s more effective in many cases than outright lying. The “bent” truth here?

That asking “why” is sin. It’s not. Avoid assuming that your “why, Lord” trumps your ability to say “yes, Lord.”

…And ask away. Cry out like David. Consider His answer like Esther. Testify to His revealing of the “why” as Joseph did. Pray for Him to help your unbelief. The Lord does not condemn us for acting like His children.

This post is being shared on: #TestimonyTuesday, #RaRaLinkup, Intentionally Pursuing,Titus2sday, Woman to Woman Wednesday, Women with Intention, andTellHisStory.

Your Plan B is His Plan A

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All together now: “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

We need that verse, and we need to know it’s true. As we prepare to head off to college, to become parents, to enter a ministry, it’s important to know that the Lord has a plan. In the good, the bad, and the just plain scary, He does.

Sometimes the Lord’s plan isn’t much like ours, though.

As Proverbs 16:9 famously says: “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.”

Plans change, don’t they? Life comes up. Relationships arise unexpectedly. We get new jobs, we face health trials, we find that our best laid plans simply go awry. It happens.

And when it happens, we go to plan B.

Ever been there?

You made a choice that you might now call a mistake. You laid out a future that seemed right and good but life made a choice for you, and now you’ve got to try for something else.

The “else” is plan B. But the good news is, our plan B always fits into His plan A.

“Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.” –Proverbs 19:21

That sounds like a paraphrase of the earlier Proverb reminding us that the Lord lays out our steps. Read it again. The Lord’s purposes prevail.

Job 42:2 phrases the truth this way: “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

Meanwhile, Joseph echoes: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).

In Esther 4:14, we read the implication: “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

Looking to just these few examples out of many, we see the pattern. Life does not always go our way. For Job, Joseph, and Esther, plan A probably didn’t involve wild risks, great loss and suffering, or separation from loved ones. Plan B probably didn’t either…these characters were likely on plans G, N, or Q. But God wasn’t. His greater plan isn't just about us, but it wholly accounts for each of us as well. 

Our Lord knows what’s up before we’re even born. He knows our mistakes before we make them and knows what’s going to change before we’ll ever admit that things aren’t the same. He’s beyond time and wisdom. 

In His goodness, He gives us free will. Our choices are ours. But we can rely on this:

“We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

All the things He’s working together for good are a part of His plan A. So don’t worry if you’re on B, or E, or K. You’re still on His course, walk in freedom, obedience and repentance accordingly, rather than living with regret, bitterness, or that nagging “what if?”

Gratefully linking to: Esther Girl, RaRaLinkup, and Testimony Tuesday

Our Hidden Faults

"The desires of the flesh warring against the Spirit, and the Spirit warring against the flesh, which began at rebirth, are what produce carnality and the awareness of it. If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He only asks you to accept the light of truth, and then He will make it right. A child of the light will confess sin instantly and stand completely open before God. When the light shines and the Spirit brings conviction of sin, be a child of the light. Confess your wrongdoing, and God will deal with it." --Oswald Chambers, from My Utmost for His Highest.

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Have you ever had a moment –a terrible moment- when you realize that something that you thought you were SO right about and SO good in was actually really selfish or sinful?

An argument with your spouse, in which you took the high road, for example. Days later, as your loved one is doing penance, you realize how bitter and power-hungry your heart has been since winning the fight. Or, you’ve gone out of your way to encourage and uplift someone, and you’re reaping praise. But, in your heart, it’s not about loving the other person, it’s about looking good.

Been there. And does the Lord know it!

In Psalm 19:12, we find David praying “But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults.”

That’s right before He prays in verse 13: “Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.”

We’re reminded of several truths in these simple verses:

• ·         Sin is a condition we’re born into.
• ·         Sin can be, and often is, willful.
• ·         Sin can also be sneaky –we don’t always choose it outright but we’re attracted to it anyway and our hearts can be corrupted by it without us even trying to rebel on purpose against God.
• ·         Sin needs forgiveness, and we can’t earn that! There are sins we’re not even aware of that need forgiving.

There are a lot of sins that are hidden even from ourselves - often they are ones committed deeply within our hearts that have no apparent or direct bearing on the surrounding world. Some of these sins can’t even be found out by introspection. But the Lord knows them.

We belong to a Lord and creator who knows everything, even hidden things that we don’t know about ourselves.

“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind…” Jeremiah 17:9-10

God’s Word has a lot to say about things that are hidden and what God does with them:

• ·         “For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” – Ecclesiastes 12:14
• ·         "But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” –Luke 12:2
• ·         “…wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God.” – 1 Corinthians 4:5

That sounds scary, doesn’t it? If we’re honest with ourselves, especially after one of those moments of “oh Lord! My heart is SO corrupt!,” we know that by ourselves we’re bound up in sin and wickedness.

How is that even when we’re trying avoid sin and cautiously following the path of the Lord that our hearts and still stray so far from Him?

We can’t come up with anything truly good by ourselves, or do anything out of pure, selfless, unconditional love…apart from God.  Likewise, we can never grasp the depth of our sins, how egregious our ways are before God, or how corrupt our hearts are.

Don’t be surprised when you discover a sin in your heart that you didn’t select consciously. Don’t be shocked to discover that you’ve hidden your own selfish intentions from yourself. Even moreso –don’t be taken aback when the Lord reveals your hidden faults to you.  

Pray a prayer like David’s. Examine your own heart: what sins have you committed? What have you hidden from others, yourself, and the Lord? Confess and repent. Your hope is in Christ and His mercy, not how effectively you yourself handle the sins you’ve already committed.  

Then, go farther. Ask for the Lord to forgive even the evil in your heart you don’t know about.

Because here’s what happens when you ask the Lord to forgive even your hidden faults:

• ·         You surrender some of the deepest parts of yourself to Him, His mercy, and His good purposes.
• ·         The deep-rooted sins that even you don’t recognize are at work against the Spirit of God. Acknowledge that to live in the Spirit and be free in Christ, you have to rely on Him to do work in you that even you don’t understand.
• ·         You are humbled and cleansed for His glory: “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer” –Psalm 19:14
• ·         Instead of worrying about the Lord knowing your faults and you making up for them, you can go boldly and eagerly before Him: Christ has reconciled you to God.

Fix your eyes on Jesus rather than trying to make up for the messes you’ve already made. What He illuminates He also cleanses and handles righteously.