A couple of weeks ago we said good bye to a good friend we’ve know for over 4 decades. He was a brilliant man. He did incredible things like reciting Psalm 103 every morning in Hebrew and memorizing entire books of the Bible. Eighteen months ago he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. He fought hard but finally his battle ended. At his memorial service someone told how they had never heard him ask “why?” He had only asked “Where is Jesus in this?” He was always looking for Jesus.
Several years ago we lost another friend and mentor to throat cancer. She was gifted in speaking and had life-changing impact on so many lives but spent her final days unable to speak. No one asked why, they just asked where Jesus was in the situation.
Just last week a man named Dan Hall spoke at our church. Through an accident in his hotel room, he is now paralyzed from the neck down. He also chose not to ask God why. He chose to ask instead, that his circumstances would be used to bring God glory. You can listen to his powerful message here.
As my husband and I have tried to adjust to the future with his diagnosis of cirrhosis we have tried very hard to follow the example of those who have had influence in our lives. We have tried to seek what God is doing in each new turn in the path instead of asking God why it’s all happening. It isn’t always easy.
Many times we are faced with a situation that seems unfair or unbelievably difficult and our first reaction is to ask “Why me?” We have somehow come to believe that we don’t deserve to suffer or struggle with difficulties. We think that for some reason, we should be spared.
Jesus wasn’t spared. He experienced the most unfair, unbelievably difficult, kind of suffering we could ever imagine. A level of suffering that none of us will ever face. He took our sin and suffered the consequences that we deserved and he never asked, “why me?”
Perhaps it’s time we stopped asking the wrong question and began asking the right one. When was the last time you faced something hard and asked to see Jesus in the midst of it? To see God get the glory instead of seeking the answer to the “Why?”
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” – Romans 8:18 (ESV)