When \"why?\" doesn't help \u2014 and \"what now?\" becomes the way forward<\/p>\n
Have you ever prayed a prayer that went unanswered?<\/p>\n
Not sort of halfway. Not a \"maybe later.\" But just\u2026 silence.<\/p>\n
Have you stood in a place in life where it wasn't only your body that hurt \u2014 but your whole understanding of God?<\/p>\n
When the illness won't go away.<\/p>\n
When the night grows endlessly long.<\/p>\n
When you wake to the same thing again \u2014 and again \u2014 and again.<\/p>\n
That is where faith gets tested. Not on the mountaintop, in the worship, in the joy and the celebration.<\/p>\n
But in the silence afterward.<\/p>\n
And that is where the question starts to clamor:<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
Why me?<\/p>\n
Why now?<\/p>\n
Why don't you answer, God?<\/p>\n
And in the middle of it, they come.<\/p>\n
God's little helpers.<\/p>\n
People with good intentions.<\/p>\n
Warm hearts.<\/p>\n
Care in their voice.<\/p>\n
But often with an answer to a question I never asked.<\/p>\n
God probably wants to teach you something.<\/p>\n
There must be a meaning to it.<\/p>\n
Maybe God wants to shape you.<\/p>\n
There could be sin that needs clearing up.<\/p>\n
I have seen it happen up close.<\/p>\n
When my brother became seriously ill as a small child, my parents were in a crisis of life. Their child was hospitalized and fighting.<\/p>\n
And then an older couple came by. They said that God wanted to teach them something. That there was probably sin in their lives. Imagine that moment. A small child, seriously ill. Parents in shock. And on top of the pain \u2014 guilt. They surely meant well. But their words laid a burden on shoulders that were already close to breaking. Sometimes explanations hurt more than the pain itself.<\/p>\n
In my theology, only good things come from God<\/p>\n
Over the years one conviction has become crystal clear to me:<\/p>\n
In my theology, only good things come from God.<\/p>\n
James says it without wrapping it up:<\/p>\n
'It is only good and perfect gifts that come to us from our heavenly Father...' James 1:17<\/p>\n
God is good in his very being. Not half good. Not periodically good. Perfectly good. That does not mean everything that happens is good. But it means that God is not the source of what destroys.<\/p>\n
The Bible is honest:<\/p>\n
The world was broken. Creation groans. Bodies weaken. Relationships fall apart. Accidents happen.<\/p>\n
Some of it is due to our sin. Some to the choices of others. Some simply to the fact that we live in a fallen world.<\/p>\n
But it does not mean that God sends illness to teach us. It means that he can meet us in the middle of it.<\/p>\n
\"Why?\" can become a prison<\/p>\n
Why me?<\/p>\n
Why now?<\/p>\n
What is God trying to say?<\/p>\n
What could I have done?<\/p>\n
Sometimes we get answers. Often we don't.<\/p>\n
If your whole faith hangs on getting a satisfying \"why,\" you can spend years searching \u2014 and still stand empty-handed.<\/p>\n
Job never got an explanation. Even though his friends had many well-meaning attempts.<\/p>\n
He got God. Maybe that is enough.<\/p>\n
My question became a different one<\/p>\n
At some point my question changed.<\/p>\n
Not: Why?<\/p>\n
But: What now?<\/p>\n
How do I go on with pain?<\/p>\n
How do I serve God without understanding everything?<\/p>\n
How do I continue when there is no explanation?<\/p>\n
\"What now?\" changes direction. It shifts the focus from cause to next step. From analysis to trust.<\/p>\n
God does not always give answers \u2014 but he gives himself<\/p>\n
I have learned that God rarely explains everything, but he gives grace for today.<\/p>\n
Strength for the next step. Light enough to keep going. Not floodlights. But enough.<\/p>\n
\"Your word is a lamp for my foot, a light on the path in front of me.\" Psalm 119:105<\/p>\n
The whole route and road does not get lit up, but light enough for the next step.<\/p>\n
Faith, in the end, is not about understanding every perspective. It is about knowing God's heart. And if his heart is good \u2014 then I can keep going. Not with all the answers. But with him.<\/p>\n
In the end we stand there again. At the cross. Darkness falls in the middle of the day. The earth shakes. Heaven is silent. And Jesus cries out the question we ourselves have whispered:<\/p>\n
My God, my God \u2014 why?<\/p>\n
No explanation comes from heaven. No angel steps in to explain the plan.<\/p>\n
There is silence.<\/p>\n
Three days. Three days where everything looks like defeat. Three days where \"why\" hangs unanswered in the air. But it was not meaningless. He entered into the deepest abandonment, so that you and I would never stand there alone. He bore the rejection, so that we could carry hope. He went through the darkness, so that none of our nights would be God-forsaken.<\/p>\n
And then \u2014 resurrection. Not as an explanation. But as victory.<\/p>\n
And the risen Christ does not say: \"Now you understand it all.\" He says: \"I am with you all the days until the end of the world.\" Matthew 28:20<\/p>\n
What now? Now it means: Even when you don't get the answer, you get the presence.<\/p>\n
When the explanation fails to come, he stays.<\/p>\n
He is with you in the hospital waiting room.<\/p>\n
In the sleepless night.<\/p>\n
In the quiet breakdown.<\/p>\n
In the long ordeal.<\/p>\n
He gives light enough for the next step. Grace enough for this day. Strength enough to get up again.<\/p>\n
Not always an answer and a \"why.\" But always an \"I am with you all the days until the end.\"<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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