Why?

Why?

It's a question that I'm sure a lot of ask. We probably ask it much more than we're aware of. 

Why did he get promoted instead of me?

Why did my car stop working just when I was starting to get out of debt?

Why did my spouse leave?

Why can't I do anything right?

Why don't people like me?

Why do our loved ones die?

What answer could be given to you that you would find acceptable? Just think, is there really an answer that you can fathom that would bring healing to that wound?

I'm conviced that the answer to that question isn't a proposition or a list of affects that the situation brought about. I'm conviced that if there was an answer like that it wouldn't matter, it wouldn't bring healing or comfort.

I believe with all my heart that I know the answer to that "Why?" question. I think the answer is a person. I know it sounds cheesy to say, "Jesus is the answer," but at the same time I believe it's true.

There is no other answer that bring healing, that can bring comfort than for Jesus to show up in person. He has done so before and He is coming back to do just that. Jesus is coming, He is going to step into my pain and sorrow, He is going to break through your despair and enter your own private hell to take the shackles off you and bring you into the light.

Paul puts it this way in his letter to the church in Colossae:

For he [God the Father] has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom* and forgave our sins. (Col 1:13,14)

He's not going to stop there, He is going to right the whole world. The diciple that was one of the closest to Jesus while He was here on Earth was John. He wrote this:

I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.* He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” 

And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. (Rev 21:3-6)

Have you seen the movie Convicted? If you haven't, this is a little bit of a spoiler...but nothing big.

The movie is about a brother and sister that have an incredibly close relationship. At some point the brother is imprisoned for murder. The sister believes him to be innocent and gets her GED and works her way up to law school. She becomes a lawyer in order to free her brother from prison. It takes 16 years of her life...a lot of time.

At one point in the movie the brother says to her...(in words similiar to these...I won't be able to quote exactly)..."You know, if you left me in here another 20 years, I'd be alright."

The sister expresses shock and believes that he's kidding.

He looks her in the eyes and say, "I just mean, you're working so hard for me out here, goin to school and all and becoming a lawyer. I'm okay no matter what I go through in here because I know there's someone like you that loves me and is working to get me out."

The way that we endure the pain and suffering and confusion is just like the brother from convicted. We take sollace and refuge in the love of one who has given His all in order to save us. Who is even now interceding for us and giving us His Spirit to guide us. We can go through anything if we really believe there is someone that great that is madly in love with us and actively working right now to come back and save us from our prison.

Don't you want a God like that? Who knows the accusations brought against us, and even when they are true takes the penalty Himself and frees us from our prisons? If you have never trusted in Jesus, I think now is as good a time as ever to begin.

The first step to starting a relationship with Him is to know that you are in fact in prison, to know that you can't get out of the prison yourself. Cry out to Him and ask Him to meet you where you're at. Jesus will meet you in your mess and shame, but He won't leave you there.

If you already know Jesus and love Him, remember to look to Him when you are going through hardship and know that there is someone who is infintely more wonderful than the sister in the movie, who isn't just giving up years of his life to school to save you but gave up His whole life in order to save you. 

He is coming again and He will make all things new. Come Jesus, come quickly.