Why

Have you ever asked the question why?

Maybe when you’ve felt pain smack you right in your face, all the hard things of life are pressing in? I know I’ve whispered it in the dark loneliness of night when everything is too much to bear after all my tears have been shed.

Why?

One small word, asking the deepest question. Life is not always what we planned or hoped. Bad reports, sudden loss, we can get side-swiped by the unexpected. Sometimes, it’s tempting to stand on a mountaintop and scream out why to the world. Some days, the heart is just so full of things that hurt. I recently lost my mother after a decade-long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. The hardest years of my life, as I said “The Longest Goodbye” to her, grieving the loss of her memory and all that she was. And if I’m honest, I don’t know why my mom had to be the next in her family to get Alzheimer’s. I don’t know why I had to sit by and watch her fade away over the past ten years when I felt like we still had so much living to do together.

I’ll never really understand, and I’ve definitely asked why. We all could share our own stories that start with hard questions. But I’m so grateful that in the middle of all my whys, I’ve still been able to look for hope—and experience joy. I’ve never had to walk through my whys alone. There’s been this never-ending peace that runs down and overflows and mixes with grace. In the middle of all my whys, my Maker promised that He’ll never leave or forsake me.

Forsake means to abandon or walk away. God will never do that to us, no matter our questions. The NIV version of the Bible records the word “why” 510 times. That’s a lot of questions and explanations right there in God’s Word. I love what David said in Psalm 86:7: “When I am in distress, I call to you, because you answer me.” God’s presence is with me always. I trust in Him, no matter the circumstances—even when I don’t understand. Sometimes, life doesn’t seem fair; situations feel too difficult to comprehend, and pain is real. Walk through the grief; let yourself feel what you need to feel. Don’t be afraid to ask those hard questions when you need to. He is there in the middle of all our whys.