Why Me, Lord?

Why Me, Lord?

Romans 8: 28 – 31 June 9, 2002

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

Or, when you call Suicide Prevention and they put you on hold… Your twin sister forgot your birthday… Your income tax check bounces… You put both contact lens in the same eye…

We’ve all had bad days… One lady described her nerve-wracking ordeal like this: “It was like being trapped for 4 hours in a stuck elevator with a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses…” That’s got to be pretty bad…

A fortune-teller studied the hand of a young man & told him, “You will be poor & very unhappy until you are 37-years old…” The young man said, “Well after that, what will happen? Will I be rich & happy?” The fortune-teller said, “No, you’ll still be poor, but you’ll be used to it by then…”

This morning, 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 mentioned the family that had lost their 2-year old daughter 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 lost of a 2-year old daughter is one of the most tragic things that can happen to a 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, but how can that be… 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 this morning…

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 tornados come & destroy beautiful homes and communities? Why do 6,000 people lose their lives in the World Trade Center? Why is there disease? Why do people have to suffer? Why is there so much pain in the world?

Well, I have an answer for you… This is a really thought-out deep answer so listen closely, I don’t want you to miss this… I DON’T KNOW!

I don’t know why God allows so much pain & suffering… I told you I read Dr. James Dobson’s book, “When God Doesn’t Make Sense,” and I couldn’t wait to hear his answer… and finally after reading 11 chapters, Dr. Dobson gives his readers his answer… His answer is the same as mine, “I Don’t Know…”

Friends, 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…

The only way that “all things can work for the good for those who love the Lord” is if we are “called according to His purpose…”

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

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…”