Marriage Insight: Why God is This Happening?

Marriage Insight: Why God is This Happening?

Everywhere you turn you are hearing of different tragedies happening all around us. There are hurricanes, earthquakes, flooding, fires, wars, rumor of wars, shootings, suicides, marriages on the verge of breaking up, and the list goes on. We hear the cries… daily. It is so heartbreaking. People are crying out, “Why God? Why is This Happening? Why don’t You stop this?”

How we wish we had answers for the heart cry of those around us. Just last night Steve was called to the scene (he is a Fire Department Chaplain) where a young boy committed suicide. The mom kept crying out, Why… why… why? And there are no logical answers to give to her. Comfort and help her… yes. But no real answers. I opened up the monitoring system to post comments that came in over night on the Marriage Missions Prayer Wall. There is one prayer request dealing with a spouse filing for divorce after meeting someone else, and the other is from a wife walking in on her husband having an affair. Why is this happening to good people? 

This morning a news story tells of people who are crying out to God as an evil shooter killed and wounded a huge number of people at a concert. Then there are bombings, stabbings & people ramming cars into crowds of people. There are so many people that never even thought much about God who are now blaming Him for the tragedies that are happening. Some were close to God before the horror hit, and others weren’t. But most of them are wondering why God didn’t stop these things from happening, or at least protect them or their loved ones when it did.

Sometimes there are dark clouds that surround our understanding of what “in the world” is going on. We have no idea of what God could be thinking in allowing certain horrible things to occur—especially when they occur to “good” people. We’re told God has a plan; and that He cares and He loves us. But our finite minds just cannot grasp the complexity of what good could come out of so many painful circumstances. Perhaps we are nearing the “last days” or maybe not—only God knows that truth. But whether we are, or not, we still need to “make the most of them.”

Jesus said that in the last days "there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, & never will be." (Matthew 24:21) …“Nation will rise against nation & kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines & pestilences in various places, along with fearful sights and great signs from heaven. But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you." (Luke 21:10-11) As recorded in Matthew 24:6 Jesus said that in the last days "you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet." For this reason, we should not panic. We just don't know if this is the end, or not. We're also told, "There will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self..." (2 Timothy 3:1-5) And don't we see this? Please read the rest of those scriptures. We see a lot of this happening in today’s world. We need to "be on the alert" because the enemy of our faith wants to cause us to fall. Jesus "said to his disciples, temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!" (Luke 17:1)

With all of this, fear can easily grip our hearts. But grabbing and then holding onto fear will only render us helpless. There are numerous scriptures that support this point. Fear ushers in hopelessness, which is then pushed onto those around us. But what good will that do? God tells us through His Word to, "Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish..." (Eph. 5:15-17) We highly encourage you to continue reading what we are told in scriptures from there.

In 1 Peter 3:15-22 we are told, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…" Please continue reading from there. We’ll include them & more in the Insight posted at www.marriagemissions.com. But whatever you do, don’t panic… pray, & make “the most of every opportunity possible, because the days are evil.” Work to combat that, which the enemy intends for evil. We hope you will join us in this mission. And "may the Lord direct your heart into God's love and Christ's perseverance." (2 Thessalonians 3:5)

 ~ Cindy and Steve Wright