I suppose there's a lot of theology/philosophy around whether God gives us trials to endure, etc. I'm not quite sure where I stand on that. I don't believe God punishes us, but I do believe there are natural consequences for our actions. These consequences can manifest themselves physically, mentally, or emotionally.
However, this rephrasing of my question comes in those situations that are just hard to explain why they're happening, except that we are imperfect humans living in an imperfect world.
Drum roll please......
Instead of asking, "Why is this happening?" What if we started asking, "God what do you want me to do as a result of this situation?"
I believe for me and maybe other people, this would take the victim role out of the situation, like we are entitled to have a great, easy life, as well as help us rise up out of the hurt, sadness, anger, etc. We start to focus on what we can learn and perhaps that's what God wants out of that situation. Maybe we're not receiving a consequence for the past maybe God is preparing us for something else in the future.
Your thoughts, experiences?
2 comments:
Although it's not a new idea, it is an important one. We had a pastor growing up that suggested we ask "What now?" instead of "Why?" I think I prefer to ask "How?" How did God build circumstances that would leave me less alone in my trial? How does God want to use this for His glory? How can I be a part of His glorious plan as a result of this?
It's a struggle to avoid the why question. I think we were built to ask why. It's one of my great questions for God when I meet Him someday; why did He create us to ask why if He didn't intend us to know the answer? For example, we have such an innate desire to explore, like our quest to understand the intricacies of the genetic code, but we don't always find the destination or the solution. If I were to venture a guess as to God's answer (based on my own shaky theology) I'd say that He created us this way that we might be constantly trying to figure Him out, and thus trying to further and more deeply know Him. So, as usual, it's about the process of asking why, but not so much about the product, the answer. In that case, does that make it okay to ask the why as long as we know that we won't know the answer? Is it okay to search for the why as long as it leads us to the how?
This is my new question. Is there value in asking the why? I'm not sure because, as you said, we often fall into the victim role with that question. But is there an important process in that question, one that shows us a greater view of God? Or does the why question only show us a greater view of God if we know that there isn't an answer? Or does the why question cause us to only see our trial in relation to our selfish selves so that we miss God altogether? And thus are we to move past the why question and jump to the How questions? I'm not sure. But I do think the process of asking the questions is of the utmost importance.
I'm not sure that this made sense or clarified anything at all. It's just what I've been pondering amidst my own trials lately. What do you think?
I tend to agree with most of what you said. Certainly the process of asking questions and the process of seeking the answers is probably more important than actually finding the answers. Thanks for sharing!
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