June 3, 2023

Job 3: 11 “Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?” (NIV)

God’s best answer to “why” is often, “Be still and know that I am God.”*

Ironically, I begin this discussion on the futility of asking “why” by asking my very own “why” question: Why do we have to know why? Sure, sometimes we need to know why something happened so that we can avoid a repetition of the incident, but more often our questions are of the “why did this have to happen to me” variety. If there was a reason why, and if we knew why, it wouldn’t change things. Why waste time asking why when you could be asking, “What am I going to do about it?”

Job’s question reminds us that 1) bad things happen to good people; and 2) we don’t know why. We know what was going on in the spirit realm between God and Satan because God chose to reveal it to the writer of the book of Job, but there is no indication that he ever told Job. Which brings us to the third thing that Job’s question reminds us of: 3) God doesn’t owe us answers.*

Does that seem fair to you? Do you really want God to be fair? I really want God to be God. Someone has said, “My theology is big enough for a God I can’t figure out but whom I trust, ultimately, to be deeply good.”*  I would add my personal sentiment to her statement by saying that I pray that my faith is strong enough to trust that God is good and he does good.

God’s goodness extends far beyond our understanding.*