Why?This is the question we shout at God when everything falls apart.
There are situations out of our control, things that we can do nothing about. It begins to take its toll on every aspect of our life-physical, spiritual, and mental. We experience stress, exhaustion, even an upset stomach about situations that cause us hurt at the very thought of them. We stop praying, or stop listening, to God. Our Bible stays in the drawer. Our prayer closet stays closed. We place spiritual things, and God, on hold because we don't know how to deal with the problem or problems mounting in our lives. Our mind is bombarded by lies, doubts, fears, and bitterness. The battle begins here, because the mind contains thoughts no one else can hear or see. It is here that the devil takes advantage of all our emotions, and tries to steer us away from what we know is right. He knows when we are falling apart that we are the most vulnerable. We are weak and considered prey-the perfect time for the enemy to attack our minds.
In the middle of the storms of life, we seem to want more control. We want to somehow "fix it."It is our human nature to manipulate life and make it what we want it to be. There is a specific outcome we hope for, and if we don't think God is doing a good job, we take matters into our own hands...much to our own detriment. Once we have become accustomed to living life our own way, it becomes harder and harder to relinquish the grip we have on life. We think we can do better than God, that we can somehow make the pain go away, but we can't. The reality is we are making things far worse. In our hands, life is messy and painful. People disappoint us, reject us, and spread lies about us. They don't understand the effect it has, and the hurt that goes so deep, we beg God to take it away. We have wounds. We bear the scars from hanging on so tightly to our lives that the control suddenly has to be ripped from our grasp. What we fail to remember is this: we aren't the only ones bearing the painful scars of life as everything falls apart.
When everything falls apart, we may feel all alone, but we forget that Jesus went through something much worse than we could ever imagine. Jesus was slandered, rejected, beaten, bruised, spit upon, and ultimately, crucified. Imagine how he felt while all of this was happening. There were events leading up to his crucifixion that I'm sure did not make him feel very good inside. One of his own disciples sold him out, and betrayed him, for a few pieces of silver. Peter denied him three times, along with many others. He was taken in the place of a murderer, and no one believed that he was the Christ. Rather, they made fun of him. On the night Jesus was taken away to be crucified, he went up into the Mount of Olives to pray. His prayer went something like this, if you'll allow me to paraphrase,"Father, why must I do this? I would rather not have to endure the cross, but let your will be done, not mine." Jesus was asking God to spare him from the crucifixion, but God knew there was a greater plan. Although Jesus did not like the idea of being rejected and beaten, he trusted his Father and endured until the end. This is a great example to us, as Christians. Everything looked like it was falling apart, and many of Jesus' followers questioned why this was happening. But God saw more than just the earthly outcome-the crucifixion. He also saw the eternal outcome-salvation and redemption for the world.
Will you trust God when everything falls apart? When life doesn't go your way, how will you respond? Will you lose yourself, or will you find Him? In the storm, will you try to steer, or let God take control? "I know the Master of the Wind. I know the Maker of the Rain. He can calm a storm. Make the sun to shine again. I know the Master of the Wind."