Why? When We Question God
September 26, 2019
by Dr. J. Vernon McGee
“Why?” Many people wonder why God does not move in and do something about the evil in the world. This question is basic to all questions today. If it is not your question, it certainly is mine.
We could likely ask God the same question about the impossible things He’s allowed in our lives.
“Why does God permit this to happen to me?” Is that what you’re asking today? May I say this, and please let’s not let this out: I do not know. Honestly, I do not know. But God has the answer for your problems, my beloved.
On a trip to the south, my wife and I drove into Oklahoma to where my dad is buried. I never get into that country without becoming a little nostalgic. Thinking of this message, I remembered being a 14-year-old boy standing by the fresh grave of my dad who had been killed in a cotton gin accident. As I stood there I wept and cried out, “Why, oh God, did You take him? Why did this have to happen to me?”
Time has gone by, and today I may have an answer for that. I feel it was God’s method of dealing with a boy who would never have entered the ministry otherwise. Later on in my life, I stood by a little white casket holding my firstborn daughter and asked the same question of God, “Why did You let this happen to me?” I do not have the answer to this day.
But I want to say this to you, I have gone to my watchtower (like Habakkuk), and I shall wait. I am trusting the one who has the answer. He has reassured my heart, saying, “Just put your hand in Mine and walk with Me through the dark, and I’ll give you your answers when the time comes.”
I don’t know about you, but I’m trusting. God’s Word says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). The just shall live by faith, my beloved.
Habakkuk got his answer. God took him to the watchtower, and Habakkuk, thinking that God was doing nothing, found that He was doing plenty. And then Habakkuk prayed:
O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid; O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy. -Habakkuk 3:2
Habakkuk reverses himself. He says, “I’ve heard Your speech, and I am afraid.” What is he afraid of? Well, he had thought that God wasn’t doing anything. Now he is afraid the Lord is doing too much! Before, Habakkuk had been calling down fire from heaven not only upon his own nation who had walked away from God, but also on the Chaldeans. Now he is saying, “Lord, don’t forget to be merciful.”
It does look today as if God is not doing anything, but if you and I could ascend to the watchtower of Habakkuk, if we could learn that the just shall live by His faith, if we could have a living faith in God and see what is moving behind the scenes and see the wheels turning, I think that we would be as surprised as Habakkuk was.
God has the answer.
Are you or someone you know going through the heartbreak of losing a child—young or old? Dr. McGee has a lovely message of comfort and hope called “Death of a Little Child,” which he wrote after the death of his own infant daughter. CLICK HERE to download it and share with others.
Want to know how to walk by faith through tough situations when it seems like God isn’t doing anything about them? CLICK HERE to download the free digital booklet of “Why Doesn’t God Do Something?”
My Turn
Ask Why What? Instead
When you’re tempted to ask God, “Why? (Why me? Why this? Why are You allowing this?),” ask “What?” instead.
- What do You want me to learn in this trial?
- What might You be doing behind the scenes?
- What response do You want from me?
Like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane—the most difficult night of Jesus’ life—tell the Lord, “I want what You want for me.” This kind of faith, this kind of submission of God’s way, gives God the access to do something supernatural in us.
Ponder these verses: John 11; Romans 5:1-5; Philippians 1:3-6