"Why, Lord?"

From Moses to Gideon to Job to David to Isaiah to Jeremiah, and finally, even to the Lord Jesus Christ, the people of God have looked Heavenward with the question regarding the difficulties of life, "Why?"

Sometimes answers come in the pages of Scripture. Sometimes the Holy Spirit grants insight in our thinking to put 2 and 2 together, as it were, and 4 clearly appears. And sometimes the voice and experience of a fellow believer illuminate our understanding, enabling us to interpret the reasons for God's determinations and allowances in our lives.

Sometimes, however, answers never come. Or if they do, we miss them or cannot understand our Lord's whys and wherefores. Some things are simply beyond us in this lifetime, and some things God, in the perfection of His wisdom and way, simply chooses not reveal to us. "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God" (Deuteronomy 29:29).

Unto a race long ago infected by Satan's lie that "ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil," the inability to understand comes as a bitter pill to swallow (Genesis 3:5). Our enemy tempts us to believe that if only we can know and interpret the reasons for the painful things that fall out in life, we can deal with them. Our problem, we think, is lack of knowledge and information. Again, sometimes this is the case, and God answers our "Why?" But many times, such an answer would actually serve to further bewilder and trouble us, or worse, to confirm us in the pride of believing in our own ability to successfully navigate the course of life, given enough information.

Thus, our Heavenly Father sometimes grants no direct answer to "Why?" He leaves us in the darkness of ignorance in order to usher us further into the light of faith. As the old saying perfectly expresses, "We must trust His heart when we cannot understand His hand." Often, this is the answer to "Why?" Our Father would have us to know Him rather than merely His ways. When darkness enshrouds both the path behind and the path before us, we cling more tightly, listen more intently, and trust as a matter of our very survival. "You know, Lord, You understand - and that is enough." It is a hard way, no doubt, but it is a blessed way as the unseen Hand provides opportunity for a glorious Heart to shine forth in the bold relief provided by the backdrop of darkness.

"I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel."

(Isaiah 45:3)

"The darkness and the light are both alike unto Thee."

(Psalm 139:12)