I've had a lot of thoughts recently, and I'd like to try to share some of them.
My first is that if I ask the question that titles this post, then I do not fully understand God. If I ask that question, then I am making the assumption that God's role in my life is to ensure bad things don't happen.
However, I'm learning that isn't how God works.
God's role is to show me how to survive the bad things that happen. God is the reason to keep moving forward, to keep living.
Everything else might eventually fail you. Do you base your happiness on your husband? Your children? Your new car? Your career?
Well, your husband can die. Your children might grow up to hate you. Your new car can get wrecked, and you might get fired from your sweet job.
Those are all pretty bad things. Yet they happen. They happen to people every single day.
The only way to move on, to get through them, to feel joy is through God. Through having faith in Him that everything does eventually work out, that after death if we've lived righteously we will have that happy ending, that no tragedy has to overcome us.
Granted, I've never lost a husband. I've never had my children hate me. I've never even wrecked a car or gotten fired. But I hope that if or when any of those things happen, I'll remember this post. I'll keep my faith, and I will not let despair consume me.
I know that I have a Heavenly Father who listens to my prayers who loves me more than I can comprehend. I know that He will send me His Spirit to comfort me, to guide me. I know that He has sent His Son who atoned for my sins, so I can conquer spiritual death, and who died on the cross, so I can conquer physical death.
So, I must always remember to not ask why God lets bad things happen. I must be grateful every day that I will never have to face a bad thing alone. And then perhaps, after my tears are dried and my grief is subdued even if it can never completely leave, then maybe I can even find gratitude for those bad things that helped me remember that I need God and that help me appreciate the good times so much more, the good times that I've already had and remember all the more fondly and the ones that I look forward to having in the future.
My first is that if I ask the question that titles this post, then I do not fully understand God. If I ask that question, then I am making the assumption that God's role in my life is to ensure bad things don't happen.
However, I'm learning that isn't how God works.
God's role is to show me how to survive the bad things that happen. God is the reason to keep moving forward, to keep living.
Everything else might eventually fail you. Do you base your happiness on your husband? Your children? Your new car? Your career?
Well, your husband can die. Your children might grow up to hate you. Your new car can get wrecked, and you might get fired from your sweet job.
Those are all pretty bad things. Yet they happen. They happen to people every single day.
The only way to move on, to get through them, to feel joy is through God. Through having faith in Him that everything does eventually work out, that after death if we've lived righteously we will have that happy ending, that no tragedy has to overcome us.
Granted, I've never lost a husband. I've never had my children hate me. I've never even wrecked a car or gotten fired. But I hope that if or when any of those things happen, I'll remember this post. I'll keep my faith, and I will not let despair consume me.
I know that I have a Heavenly Father who listens to my prayers who loves me more than I can comprehend. I know that He will send me His Spirit to comfort me, to guide me. I know that He has sent His Son who atoned for my sins, so I can conquer spiritual death, and who died on the cross, so I can conquer physical death.
So, I must always remember to not ask why God lets bad things happen. I must be grateful every day that I will never have to face a bad thing alone. And then perhaps, after my tears are dried and my grief is subdued even if it can never completely leave, then maybe I can even find gratitude for those bad things that helped me remember that I need God and that help me appreciate the good times so much more, the good times that I've already had and remember all the more fondly and the ones that I look forward to having in the future.
Thank you for this post. Scotty and I have been talking about this a lot lately...especially after the horrible accident that Esteban was involved in yesterday. It is very important to understand the whole plan of happiness!
ReplyDeleteDid you look at the stuff I put on my blog yesterday? Seems to fit right in: "you either live in hope or you live in despair. Without hope, you cannot endure to the end." and as I was looking for quotes I liked, I found this thought from James E Faust, and it was something like this: Why do we ask God why he lets us suffer, when Christ suffered more pain than any of us will ever know FOR US? How can we ask Him that?"
ReplyDeleteIf I didn't do a good job paraphrasing and you don't get it let me know, and I'll find his actual words. :)
LOVE YOU.
I think God lets bad things happen because deep down, we want those things to happen. It's like Agent Smith said in the Matrix, in a "perfect" world, people would go insane.
ReplyDelete