When troubles and sorrows swoop down on people like vultures over road kill, we almost immediately ask one of three questions, if not all three. "Where is God?" "Why me (or her or him or them), God?" "How could God let this happen?" Some people insist that God doesn't exist because a real god would not allow some catastrophe occur. However, when bad things do happen to good people, God is where he has always been - waiting for us. We often suffer as a result of our own actions, the actions of others, or the effect of evil. We often do things to our bodies that cause agony or tribulations later. A good friend of mine lay on her death bed, ravaged by cancer. A visitor commented, "How could God allow this to happen to you? You're such a good person." Jane gave a wan smile before answering, "God had nothing to do with it. I was the one who insisted on smoking all those years." We often suffer the consequences of our own actions and then blame God when we do. God doesn't force us to smoke, take risks that result in injuries, over indulge, use alcohol and drugs irresponsibly, or involve ourselves in other behavior that harms us. He doesn't cause us to be careless, either. Nor is God responsible when people put others in harm's way. Three members of a family of four died as the result of a drunken driver swerving off the road. In the blink of an eye (an all-too-true clich), a teenaged girl lost both her parents and her brother as well as being injured herself. The actions of a self-indulging man caused needless grief and suffering. When interviewed after her hospital stay, the young woman said, "At least my family is in a better place and will never know pain or heartache." Parents pass on genes to children that carry illness. Some times mothers knowingly cause problems for their children through the use of alcohol or drugs while pregnant. We can even accidently cause others to endure pain or heartache. Then evil causes untold agony. According to the Bible, God created man and woman to live in the Garden of Eden, never to know grief or misery. Then the "snake" appeared, evil incarnate; then Adam and Even slipped. We've been fighting evil ever since. Ah, I can hear someone stating, "There's no such thing as evil." All we need do is look around us. Evil can be found in those who enjoy hurting others. Every day we see the results in the cruelty, the child abuse, the molesting, the torturing of children and of adults. Those are the signs of evil. We are responsible for fighting evil in our lives, and God will help us. The saying "the devil made me do it" is no excuse for allowing evil to control us. God does not cause the pain, anguish, and tribulations of life. In fact He is the source of any real comfort, but people blame Him. Doing so is easier than realizing we or someone we love might be at fault. Perhaps, in the case of death, He takes a good person away from more suffering. To this day I miss my mother, but she no longer knows pain or heartache. I can't be selfish enough to wish her back to face more than she did. Where is God? He waits patiently for us to turn to Him for the comfort only He can provide and for us to stop blaming Him. |
