"Why, whhyyy..." It was the "why" heard around the world on January 6th, 1994. American ice skater Nancy Kerrigen was clubbed on her right knee seven weeks before the 1994 Olympic Winter Games. News outlets played this video of her crying "why" over and over. Everyone was shocked and outraged by the brutal attack that came from the hand of the ex-husband of her rival. I actually mimic her voice when I ask "why" sometimes.
Why, it is such a powerful three letter word. It means "for what reason, for what purpose" and it is asked over and over by most two and three year olds and every child of God.
"Why, Lord?"
"For what reason, Lord?"
We all have times in our lives that we go to God and ask him why. I have had big why moments in my life like, "Why God was my son born legally blind?" To every why question we ask do we always receive an answer. I believe we do, because God does everything for a reason and purpose. Now, with that said, do we always know what the purpose is? The simple answer to that is - no.
The Children of Israel asked it, Moses asked it, Elijah asked it, Isaiah asked it, Jeremiah asked it, David asked it over and over, and even Mary asked it: "Why Lord?" Some of those above not only asked why then took it a step further and proceeded to ask God to kill them. (I don't think my life has ever gotten quite that bad, but again, I wasn't an Old Testament Prophet either.)
I am in a season of life right now that I don't always see the value in, and I think that is why we begin to ask the question, "why?" We feel like there has to be value in what we do, that someone surely has to be getting something from my going through this valley. I remember a particularly hard period in my life when I was questioning God about why I was going through this rough patch and his answer was loud, clear, and astonishing:
"For my Glory and for your good."
God spoke that so clear to my heart, the message that there are times I am going through things that don't make sense at all. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the events that have overtaken me, yet for God's glory and my good... That kind of stops you right there in your track. What if you are going through all kinds of horrible, terrible times in your life and God tells you that it is simply for His Glory and your good; would that be enough?
What if you never know the "why" of what you're going through? What if you never see the person who gets saved because of watching your life? What if you never know that your struggles helped another person walk closer with Jesus? What if you never see your kids become the men/women of God that they were supposed to be because of what you walked through? You can tell yourself that everything is terrible, that nothing will change, it was always be this way and walk through life like Eeyore, or you can realize that everyone has something that they have to walk through that will take them to their core. God is simply not afraid of your "why" question. He will answer you, but are you prepared for His answer? That is the better question...
Nancy Kerrigan went on to skate the best two performances of her life and walk away with the Silver Medal of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games. Some said if it wasn't for her experience of having to come back from her injury she might not have even placed in the medals. You see she might have missed the US Figure Skating Championships but went on to train harder, and pushed herself to a place that she would have taken for granted had she not experienced the tragedy of that day. Today's "why" is for His glory and for your good... So, ask "why" then tell yourself,
"Why NOT?"
No comments:
Post a Comment