It’s been an uncommonly busy two weeks. Life just happened! Hence my absence in blogosphere.
Interesting experience a couple of weeks back. I’m coming home from the gym in a mat. Get off at a bus-stop about 10 minutes walk from home. So far so good. But just as the mathree pulls away, a huge raindrop falls on the ground at my feet. I look up and the sky looks all funny. I get this uneasy feeling that it’s about to throw up all over me.
So I start hurrying as fast as I can but almost like a cat playing with a mouse, it starts to growl mischievously yet menacingly. I call my sweetie whose home and ask her to drive and meet me, but I have a sinking feeling that I won’t make it! I pray to reach home dry, then intensify my prayers and finally command the skies to hold up. All in vain... In less than a few minutes, the weather moves from a gentle drizzle to a soft shower then a raging downpour. Walala! I don’t even try and run as it won’t make a difference - there’s no shelter anywhere! Soon, I’m drenched to the t-bone. By the time she finally reaches where I am, I’m of the mind to just swim home as it won’t make a difference!
So, why does it rain on praying people? Or as someone once asked, why do bad things happen to good people? Okay, I’m not saying I’m perfect. But I was coming from serving God (at least before I stopped by the gym). At the very least He should have waited for me to get home before the downpour!
Why does a loving God allow the suffering we encounter in the world? Getting drenched hardly qualifies as ‘suffering’, but this question has troubled many people through history. Some have concluded that God can’t be that loving after all. Others that if God is all-loving, He/She or It can’t be all-powerful. Others that there is no God after all.
No pat or trite answers to this one. It’s definitely an easier question to answer from a theoretical point of view as opposed to when you’re in the middle of a heart-piercing or gut-wrenching situation. One thing though; the bible never promises us that now we’re Christ followers, suffering is a thing of the past. On the contrary it says that we will suffer at times because of being Christ followers (2Timothy 3:12). The question is not whether I’ll face suffering, but with whom I’ll face it when it does come. And knowing God is at work to make all things work out for my good (Romans 8:28) makes it at least bearable when it does happen.
2 comments:
I'm still hanging onto your first paragraph in this entry and can't help but wonder how we can prevent life from just happening. You know when life seems to take one over? When you look back and notice that a couple of weeks have gone by but you aren't sure of what value have had in the accomplishment of your purpose and destiny? And I'm not talking of suffering but of being consumed by the 'inbox' and 'intray' of life that all you seem to do is churn out the work and ensure it moves to the 'outbox' and 'out tray'?
Yes indeed. Why do bad things happen to good people? I'm sure there are millions of people who've been in circumstances that left them wondering where God was when things were falling apart. You're right. There's no logical answer to that baffling question. We can only hope to understand it all when we are in heaven. Personally, one thing that has made me take whatever life throws at me is the realisation that who I am and what I can do does not define God. He is the same majestic, holy, loving King of the universe. He does not change. As long as I can hold on to that truth then I won't have to imagine God going like "While I was out for lunch what happened to you?" God is truly amazing. I feel like I'm just scratching the surface of this great revelation.
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