Why, oh why?* - Juwita Suwito

So this guy was sharing during our Bible Study how God worked so that he could have enuf money to ease his financial strain.

I then remembered the sermon i heard when i was in S'pore not too long ago. The speaker was saying that sometimes, we put too much importance of this kind of sharings - and sets up the unspoken standard. No one shares about unanswered prayers. No one tells about how things did not work out for them - unless there is a twist to the tale where things turned out better. Instead, we paint the picture that if we believe and trust in God, it'd be smooth sailing all the way. This in turn implies that if things are rocky, if prayers are not answered, then it is cuz we are not having faith, we are doing something wrong, we are praying the wrong prayers.

What about the woman in Sri Lanka with a 2 year old child who's husband was murdered because he is the pastor of a church? Or those church leaders in China who were rounded up and taken to the labour camps. How about the girl crying herself to sleep every nite wondering why is it that despite her faithful service to God, she is still single. Or the boy who despite his best efforts and prayers, still continue to fail in his studies?

Unfortunately, some churches today are guilty of preaching a new type of prosperity gospel - the kind that says that everything will be brilliant in yr life, all prayers answered, no disappointments.

But is that really what the Bible teaches? When we weep in the privacy of our rooms in tears during the wee hours of the morning and cry out "Why, God? Why?", is there something wrong with our Christian walk?

I dun think so. I submit that we are in fact in good company of many great men and women in the Lord who felt disappointed with the almighty at one point of time in their lives.

The important thing is how we respond to such disappointments. Do we get bitter? Do we forsake the Lord? Do we give up our faith?

Or do we cling on to the promise that God works for the good of those who love him? That he will give us only good gifts? That if he gave us himself on the cross, will he not give us anything else?

For most of us, we will obtain an answer in our life time. For others, it will be revealed in the future - Abraham never got to see the promised land and Joseph never got to see that by God using him to save his family, it was to preserve the line where Jesus was eventually born of Mary.

So in the meantime, we try to cope and make sense of the things that seem to spiral out of control on a daily basis. But like the random movements of individuals on a ship, we know that there is a captain who is making sure that all will reach their destination in due course.

It is hard - but we persevere. I try to, anyway...

*First heard this song only recently on a student's blog.