EASE UP! LOOK UP!

 WHY? – Because I said so!

Before we get too far away, let me share a thought I had during the remembrance of 9/11:

In September, as I watched the many tributes to those who did and did not die on 9/11, one man’s words really stood out to me.  The fireman said, “I must not have done enough.  My friends died, I didn’t.  I must not have been doing enough.  That must be why I lived.”  It broke my heart to hear that and to realize again how confusing life can be without faith in God.

The simplest answer in all of this is that your mother was right.  Remember when you were young and would ask “Why?” every time she told you to do or not do something and she would give you an answer which you followed with another “Why?”  And then she ran out of answers and said, “Because I said so?”  You had to do it or not do it “because” she said so.  Reasons and explanations were not any help to you.  You could not yet connect the dots.  (Plus you really enjoyed driving her nuts asking, “Why?”) That answer usually ended the conversation. She spoke with authority and you had to obey.

Well, we cannot yet connect the dots on God’s answers to why.  His ways are above our ways and beyond our comprehension and His answer is, and always has been, “Because I said so.”

Ever since Cain slew Able, (and Able had every right to wonder:  “Why?  What did I do wrong?”) there has been a string of tragedy and catastrophe through out the history of this world.  Whether natural or man made, calamity and “unfair” loss has plagued the human race.

It is very important for us to remember and know that when a disaster strikes, it is God who decides who will live.  The one thing we can cling to is that God has plans for those who survive.  Even many unbelievers will realize that “somehow” they were kept alive in order to accomplish something and it will change their lives drastically.  What they don’t realize is that all who survive, survive to the Glory of God:

Isaac survived the altar to carry the line of Abraham which would eventually become Israel, God’s chosen people.  Joseph survived his brothers’ plans to kill him and was sent away to Egypt where he eventually became the tool that God used to save the entire Hebrew clan from perishing in a famine.  Moses, a Hebrew boy, who should have been drowned in the river (like hundreds of other Hebrew baby boys,) instead survived to become the voice of God to Pharaoh and the Hebrews and he led them out of slavery in Egypt and into a relationship with their God like no other nation on earth has had. 

And Jesus survived death on the Cross, rising up from the grave to love us and lead us through our lives and into His arms one day.  “Why?”  Because God so loved the world.   “Why?”  Because God had a plan.  “Why?”  Because He created us, loves us and wants us to be with Him always.  “Why?”  Because he said so.” 

Ease up on the guilt and look up to God and accept His wisdom in the choices He makes in your life.  You will find Joy in Him.  Now smile and say "thank you."