Why Me

QUESTION: Why Me?

ANSWER:

"Why me?" I know it is a question that I have asked on more than one occasion, as perhaps has most every person. Might it not be shear arrogance for the created to demand of the creator - why are you using me in this way (Isaiah 45:9)? My first thought might be to respond to that question: "But if God is a God of love and loves me so much how can He allow such things to happen to me?"

It took me becoming a parent to see that sometimes we do things to our children that hurt them some to prevent them from greater damage and much greater pain. For example, I occasionally slapped my children's hands to keep them from burning themselves on something quite hot. I took them to their physician to be vaccinated from diseases to prevent them from developing those diseases even though my one daughter, in particular, protested those shots vehemently! Is God protecting us from greater danger?

We see our lives in terms of us and us alone, here and now, where God sees the entire picture of our lives and the lives of all those around us. A story is told of small cabin in the center of a battlefield. Could the general protect the occupants of that cabin at the risk of all of his soldiers and the battle lines? No, of course not. Sometimes we are in the center of a situation where much more is at risk than our desires or immediate concerns. We see only a tiny part of a picture where God sees the total picture.

Perhaps we are being trained for a much greater purpose. The greatest people in our book of examples, the Bible, went through tremendous trials to become the great people of God that they were. I think of Joseph who was hated by his brothers, sold as a slave, falsely charged, thrown into prison and forgotten for years, yet ended up saving a nation from famine and extinction (Genesis 37-50). Reflect on Queen Esther who had to put her very life on the line to save her people from assignation (Book of Esther).

The Bible is full of examples of people who withstood great tests of character and tremendous persecution to prepare them for great roles in history. Job said of his tremendous trials, "But He knows the way I take: when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold" (Job 23:10). He understood that trials we go through are not to single us out for punishment, but to perfect our character and strengthen our faith.

Hebrews 12:5-6 says, "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and punishes everyone He accepts as a son." We tend to see discipline with a totally negative connotation. But it is not negative in this sense. Discipline is meant to be training or mentoring program from a loving and caring parent. It is meant to prepare us to be a child of the King of Kings.

"Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought as best: but God disciplines us for our good that we may share in His holiness" (Hebrews 12:10). The Father in this case is the Creator who does indeed know exactly what we need and can see what our future holds, and all of the circumstances surrounding us now and in our future. Perhaps instead of asking "Why me?" we should be asking, "Why not me?"