Some thoughts on "Why?"

I very seldom post my own writing; however, this week's Newsletter article for First Christian Church, Ruidoso, cannot wait for Kristyn to post... so here it is:

It is spring and we who are blessed to live in paradise are beginning to utilize our decks and close-by hiking trails. However, our excitement is tempered by the devastation displayed on our televisions and circumstances close to home distract our days and haunt our nights.

Often life experience teaches us to join in the voice of lament saying, “For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me…” (Lamentations 1:16); “How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long?” (Psalm 13:2)

Why? “Why?” is the question that most often comes to mind. Why did God not stop the Japanese earthquake and tsunami? Why is cancer killing my friend? Why does a loving God not stop a deranged man from killing a pastor?

Sadly, there are no easy answers to these questions. However, by faith, I have come to the following conclusions:

1. God suffers with. God is not the clockmaker who wound up the world and left it alone to its own devises; nor is God some distant great white wizard who is aloof and uncaring; rather, God is described in scripture as one who is weeping and mourning with those who suffer.
2. The cross is the central way Christ images God. As Theologian Greg Boyd says, “When our picture of God is centered on Christ [and the cross event], we are able to avoid the conclusion that God is mysteriously behind all the suffering and evil in the world.”
3. We are to mirror Christ’s compassion. When we pray, “May Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”, we are pledging our participation in bringing about God’s will – which is best described in the life and words of Jesus.

In this way we are like travelers on a trail that continuously crosses the stream of calamity. When we are on the stream bank of circumstance, mourning, and pain, we call out in confidence that God hears and cares, but when our travels take us across the stream, and we stand on the banks of peace and serenity, we live with the compulsion of compassion toward our brothers and sisters suffering on the other side.