Welcome to "Why Me Lord?"

Why Me, Lord?

Romans 8: 28 – 31

You know it’s going to be a bad day when you wake up in the hospital all broken & bruised and your spouse or family members tell you that your insurance policy covers falling of the roof… but not hitting the ground…

Or, when you call the emergency hotline, and they put you on hold… Your sister forgot your birthday… Your paycheck bounces… You cut your finger and get lime in it…

We’ve all had bad days… A woman can describe her nerve-wracking ordeal such as: “It was like being trapped for 2 hours which seemed to feel like for 10 hours in a stuck elevator with a group of crazy lawyers…” That’s got to be pretty bad…

This morning, afternoon or evening, I want us to look at the question, “Why Me, Lord?” Why does God allow so much evil… Why do bad things happen… Why is there so much hurt & pain in the world and in our lives?

Last Sunday, during my morning prayer, I prayed for my family because we lost my brother at such a young age in a tragic accident… and I said, “Lord, we don’t understand these things, but your Word tells us that, “all things work for the good of those that love you…”

That prayer kind of haunted me this week… I was thinking… The loss of brother is one of the most tragic things that happened to my family – and yet I said, “We don’t understand it, but we know that “all things work for the good of those that love the Lord…”

That’s God’s Word… I referenced & quoted God’s Word in my prayer… How can something so tragic, something so sad, something so painful… How can that possibly work for the good, how can any good come out of this?

Having said that, I thought it would be good for us to look at God’s promise…

Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people… Why do innocent children die? Why do thousands of people starve to death? Why do tornadoes come & destroy beautiful homes and communities? Why do 6,000 people lose their lives in the World Trade Center? Why do people have to suffer? Why is there so much pain in the world?

I have an answer for you… This is a really thought-out deep answer so listen EXTREMLY closely, I don’t want to repeat myself so please pay attention listen and don’t miss this… I DON’T KNOW!!!!!!!! DON’T HAVE A CLUE!!!!!!

I don’t know why God allows so much pain & suffering… “When God Doesn’t Make Sense,” and I couldn’t wait to hear his answer…...

We don’t know why God allows bad things to happen to good people, we don’t have that answer, only God has that answer… but we do have God’s promise… It’s found in His Word… and His Word says, “all things work for the good for those that love the Lord…”

That’s God’s Word – and we have to believe God’s Word… Therefore, we can’t dwell on the bad things; the pain, the suffering, the loss, the disease… Why should we? We don’t have the answers… We can understand it… We can’t explain it… So why should we walk around dwelling on the bad things, with our heads down low, saying, “Why me, Lord? Why me?”

Friends, we are called to live our lives on the promises of God, not the sufferings of the world… God’s Word says that “all things work for the good for those that love the Lord…” and some of us have learned to live our lives based on that promise…

But I must point out that that’s just part of the verse… If we are to believe that verse and to accept our sufferings based on that verse, we have to accept the rest of the verse, all of God’s Word… because the first part can’t work without the second part…

That’s the key! We have to be “called according to His purpose…” And what is God’s purpose for His people? What's his purpose for you? What do you think his purpose is?

Verse 28 teaches us that God works for our good. We are loved by God and are called to follow Him…..

We have to look at verse 29 for the answer… for it says, “For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…”

So, what is God’s purpose? It’s for you & me to be “conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus…” It’s for each of us to become Christ-like… to take on the image of Christ… To live a life that is Holy, to be loving & compassionate, to be forgiving, to become totally committed to the “will of God,” to be bound to the things of heaven, and separated from the things of this world…

To be Christ-like is to be focused on eternal things, things that are not of this world…

The pain & suffering, the evil, the disease, the shootings, the stabbings, the tragic accidents, the loss of life, the destruction of homes & communities… These are all things of this world… these are NOT eternal things…

That’s why, “all things work together for good for those who love the Lord and who are called according to His purpose…”

His purpose is for us to be conformed to the image of His Son… To become more Christ-like…

When we become Christ-like, we begin to focus on heavenly things… For in heaven, there is no evil… there is no pain, there is no suffering… there are no disease… No more tears… No more suffering… (Amen!)

The hard part is, even when we are conformed into the image of Christ, we will still have to go through the pain & suffering of this life… For, Christ lived a life without suffering? Being the Son of God did not exempt Him from all the pain & suffering, did it? No! In fact, Jesus Christ suffered more than any of us will ever have to suffer…

His suffering & death on the Cross, is the greatest example of our lesson this morning… I can assure you that His followers, His mother, His disciples could NOT see how in the world any good could come from His death on the Cross… How could this act of violence, this murderous act, work for the good… Well, 3-days later it was revealed to them…

And “Thanks Be to God,” 2,000-years later, each of us can see how God used such a tragic death for the good… Because Christ suffered & died on the Cross – You and I have been called to God’s purpose… We have been justified… We have been glorified… We have been sustained…. We have been saved through the blood of Christ… The “evil” death of Christ has become our “good” salvation…

Friends, we too will suffer… We live in a world of suffering, a world of pain, a world of broken hearts… For Christ did not come to do away with suffering; He did not come to explain it; He only came to fill it with His presence…

Long as we live on earth, there will be tension, pain & suffering, there will be broken hearts…

If our hearts have been broken… take comfort in knowing that God uses broken things… It takes broken soil to produce a crop… broken clouds to produce rain… broken grain to give bread… broken bread to give strength…

If that’s not enough comfort, take comfort in knowing that God mends all broken hearts… He takes all the bad & makes it well… He takes the sadness & makes it joyful… He takes the pain & makes it peace… He takes “everything and works them together for good for those that love the Lord, and are called according to His purpose…”

None of us do not understand it… we all have to believe it…

My mother, grandmother, aunts and past family members from Guatemala are all wonderful gardeners who took great pride in their gardening, but there are years when things don’t go according to plan… According to my mother they will try everything to grow everything, but nothing works… At times there’s nothing they can do. So, they ask for help.

I don’t like that answer, that’s a worldly answer… When it comes to the pain & suffering of life, when it comes to the evil of this world, we don’t have to get used to it… We have a better answer… God says, “Trust Me…”

When we suffer in this life, when evil comes our way, when things go bad and we find ourselves saying, “Why Me, Lord?,” that’s when we need to put our trust in God… and we can do that when we become called to God’s purpose… when we become conformed to the image of His Son… And we can do it in the knowledge of God’s Word and in the promise of God’s Word, knowing that no matter what happens in this world, that “all things work for the good for those that love the Lord, AND are called according to His purpose…”

As we struggle in this life, may we become conformed to the image of Jesus Christ the Son… to be Christ-like – focused NOT upon this world… but upon things yet to come… Life Eternal…

For truly, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

God working things out for our good doesn’t mean constant Happiness….

This is God’s Word for all of us. May God Bless You, God bless your family and His blessing to His Holy Word.