By Randy Lawrence
Having four children under the age of 6, the most popular question in our household without doubt is:
"Why?"
Young inquisitive minds are continually voicing (sometimes at a very high frequencies) their curious petitions to my wife and I as they try to figure out this thing we call life. On some days, my mind races with the exact same questions. Honestly, there are many days when I want to stand on my tippy toes and scream at the top of my lungs as my 3-year-old Cali does and yell, "WHY? DAD WHY?"
Have you ever had those moments? Why this? Why that? Why did he have to die? Why this report? Why now?
Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, "To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven." While this principle of God's Word at times might not be the most preferred method of human comfort, as believers we must hold on to the promise that God has a purpose and a season for all of life's "Whys".
In 1 Kings 17 the prophet Elijah finds himself in an interesting season of life. After obeying the Lord's instructions to proclaim a drought to King Ahab, Elijah finds himself down by the Brook Cherith drinking from the brook and being fed by the ravens (as God has instructed). Life is going GREAT! Until we get to verse 7, "And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land." Boom! All of a sudden Elijah is thrust into a Why? moment. Just what do you do when the creek runs dry and the ravens won't fly? To seemingly add insult to injury, why is Elijah out of water? Because he followed the voice of the Lord instructing him to proclaim a drought, thats why!
It's in these precarious season and moments in life when we are essentially faced with two options: we either can run TO GOD, or run FROM GOD. Spurgeon said, "The same sun that melts wax, hardens clay." The choices and decisions we make in these difficult, sometimes unbearable season in life often have the greatest impact on our unforeseeable future. In the face of the Whys that are staring us in the face, screaming at us in very high decibels, we must be sure that God will not leave us alone. The same voice that instructed Elijah to proclaim the drought is the same voice that comes to him in verse 9 instructing hime to "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you." God hadn't forgotten about his boy Elijah. Likewise, while we are never guaranteed to have the answers to all of life's Whys, we do have the guarantee found in Hebrews 13:5, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
Let me ask you an important Why? question, "Why go through these seasons alone?" In the difficult season of life, the enemy would love nothing more than to push us into isolation! He will use the Whys to try and isolate us from, God's Word, the voice of the Holy Spirit and the fellowship and support of believers. We will all face difficult seasons in life, and it is absolutely crucial in these moments that we refuse to take the somewhat attractive advice of the enemy to slip into isolation. So when the enemy comes with his deep dark suggestions of isolation, remind hime of the words of Christ in John 14:18, "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."
You are not alone. We are not alone. We have all the help and support we need to face the all the Whys this life could possibly throw our way. To me, that is relevant.
