Tough Questions… Tender Answers

I receive many e-mails from people who ask me tough questions, like this one from (I’ll call her) Lisa: “My daughter was an active, healthy teenager until a drunk driver hit her car, leaving her paralyzed. She was a happy Christian girl. And now, her life is destroyed. I simply cannot understand why God allowed this to happen! Signed, Lisa.”

Sometimes when we ask “why?” of God, we’re not so much looking for answers – even if God did explain His purposes, it probably would be like pouring million-gallon truths into our one-ounce brains; we couldn’t take it all in. When it comes to the “Why?” question, we are more like the child who, when he painfully scrapes his knee, doesn’t want Daddy to lecture him on “why you fell off your bike;” rather, the child just wants Daddy to pick him up, pat him on the back, and tell him everything is going to be okay: “Daddy’s here, honey, it’s okay.” And that’s our unspoken cry to our Heavenly Father. When we are hurting and confused, we want Fatherly assurance that our world is not splitting apart at the seams. What’s more, we want our Father to be in the center of our suffering, bearing and sharing our load.

And that’s what the God of the Bible does. He’s not quick to give us answers, but He is quick to give Himself. Not a bunch of words, He is the Word – the Word made flesh who gave up His life so we could have life (and escape hell which, incidentally, is the ultimate suffering). “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:30-33). Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, felt the pain in His chest first, and He will be the one to heal Lisa’s heart ache… And it is Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who will gently guide her disabled daughter through a valley of tears. You can endure almost anything if you know Jesus is sitting next to you, imparting help and hope. And one day? Lisa’s daughter will rise up out of her wheelchair into a heaven of joy, and God will personally wipe away every tear mother and daughter cried. Just five minutes in heaven will be worth it all. Join me in praying for Lisa, her daughter, and the thousands of special-needs families like them we serve every day at Joni and Friends!