Why God?

"Why God?"

It is a short yet profound question asked by each and every one of us at some point in time.. While existing in this fallen world it is normal and expected to question the sufferings and the struggles, the injustices and the unfairness, the pains and the torments, the wrongs and the evils that seem to plague us. 

We often find ourselves lacking a complete understanding of our creator and His plan, searching through His Word for help or asking other people we trust for advice or insights when times are tough and bad things happen. We naturally enter into periods of questioning and concern when things don't go as planned and when stuff doesn't go our way.. When the events that occur in this world and the circumstances of our lives become painful and tormenting. 

We often find ourselves in states of panic and doubt when the storms strike while we are out at sea, and even the most faithful of servants will at times forget that our savior is always with us and that He has something amazing planned for us in time.. That our maker is always working in every single circumstance of our lives; the good, the bad, the blessed, the cursed, and everything in-between..

But how do we truly reconcile the fact that an all-loving, all-powerful God seems to just allow bad things to happen to us? How can our Lord just sit there and permit evils to be perpetrated, injustices to occur, sufferings to exist, and chaos to ensue even to those of us who remain fully obedient and faithful to Him?

If God exists, and He loves us, then why must we endure harships and struggles?

If God knew us before we were born and predestined us unto salvation, why then must we go through all of this mess?

We read in the Gospel of Mark 4:35-41 :

"On that day, when evening came, He said to them, 'let's go over to the other side.' After dismissing the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. And a fierce gale of wind developed, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling with water.

And yet Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, 'Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?' And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'hush, be still.' And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, 'Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?' 

They became very much afraid and said to one another, 'Who, then, is this, that even the wind and sea obey Him?'"

Our lives in this temporary place will always be chaotic, painful, and tormenting.. This has been the case since the very beginning, when the first man allowed sin to enter into himself and then the rest of creation, and it will continue on until the end of days. The enemy of all that is good, true, and beautiful has led us all into a state of spiritual seperation from our Creator, and carries on promoting our rebellion against His right ways. 

Sin is responsible for all that is bad, false, and ugly in this place we exist in currently, and our enemy is the one who causes and sustains its unfortunate existence.. This sinful nature has led to our pains and torments, and our true enemy satan has been responsible for it all from the very beginning, continuing all the way down to us now, and even further on until the very end.. 

The good news is that we will be rescued from the clutches of evil, we will be redeemed from the sins of our past. The Lord our God has saved us from our physical deaths through the work done by Christ, and we now have the chance to be set free from all the pain and torment experienced in these lives here and now. 

We read on in the Gospel of Mark 5:1-20 :

"They came to the other side of the sea, into the region of the Gerasenes. When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him. He lived among the tombs; and no one was able to bind him anymore, not even with a chain, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces; and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and cutting himself with stones.

Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; and shouting with a loud voice he said, 'what business do you have with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!' For He had already been saying to him, 'come out of the man, you unclean spirit!' And He was asking Him, 'what is your name?' And he said to Him, 'my name is Legion, for we are many.' And he begged Him earnestly not to send them out of the region.

Now there was a large herd of pigs feeding nearby on the mountain. And the demons begged Him, saying, 'send us into the pigs so that we may enter them.' Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the pigs; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea.

Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the countryside. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. And then they came to Jesus and saw the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had previously had the "legion"; and they became frightened. Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the pigs. And they began to beg Him to leave their region. And as He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was begging Him that he might accompany Him. And He did not let him, but He said to him, 'go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.'

And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed."

When we understand that our enemy is satan, the deceiver who seeks to seperate us from God, who tries to destroy and steal us, we will fully know the "why" part of pain and torment existing.. 

Through Christ, we are healed and redeemed. In Him, we overcome and triumph over sin, and eventually find our place in the eternal kingdom of heaven.. Once we know who our enemy is, we can then focus on what our savior is doing.. Once we realize that this world is sin-sick, we can then get on with spreading the cure. 

Our enemy seeks to destroy mankind and lead souls away from their creator, but when we fixate our eyes upon the glorious eternity awaiting us then we shall be delivered. And once delivered, we enter into a mission of fixating the eyes of others in that same direction. 

We keep reading in the Gospel of Mark 5:21-34 :

"When Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him; and He stayed by the seashore. And one of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came, and upon seeing Him, fell at His feet and pleaded with Him earnestly, saying, 'my little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will get well and live.' And He went off with him; and a large crowd was following Him and pressing in on Him.

A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but instead had become worse - after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. For she had been saying to herself, 'if I just touch His garments, I will get well.' And immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

And immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that power from Him had gone out, turned around in the crowd and said, 'who touched My garments?' And His disciples said to Him, "You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, 'who touched Me?' And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. But the woman, fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, 'daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be cured of your disease.'" 

Jesus works in the circumstances of our lives. He hears us, and He responds accordingly. 

If we look at the common thread of these passages from the Gospel of Mark, we find the truth that Jesus cares for those in distress; He is omnipotent and has authority over what is impossible to you and me.. He heals those who are sick, He releases those who are possessed, and He rescues those who are in danger.. He saves us from all that is bad and delivers us into an eternal life that is good. 

These three moments show that those in distress who come to Jesus for help end up finding healing, finding peace, finding freedom, and finding deliverance from the sins that plague us.. 

When we trust in the Lord our God He will calm the storms, He will cast out the demonic forces that haunt us, and He will heal us of all our pains. It might not occur as immediately for us as some others experience, but with true faith we will find everlasting life in His eternal and glorious Kingdom. 

When we fully accept that we do not need to understand the "why" and just decide to remain faithful to the "God" who made us and has great plans for us, we are delivered from the perpetrator of all evils and reunited with the source of all that is good, true, and beautiful.