WHY ME

I do believe that most of us at one time or another have whispered the words: “Why me Lord”. And it was a response to hard times, a heartbreaking grief, a continuing life saga, a painful experience,  a health issue, or a group of unforeseen domino falling issues that are now overwhelming. 

Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward. Job 5:7

Troubles come in all sizes, kinds and descriptions. For centuries, people have thought that if you were just good enough, holy enough, or righteous enough, you would be spared trouble. But the fact is, troubles are the result of living in an imperfect, broken, sinful world. None of us are good enough to be spared; none of us are bad enough to be excluded from God’s help when they come. When troubles descend on us, we usually start looking for reasons as our hearts cry, “Why, God? Why me?” It’s the wrong thing to ask, and there is never a right answer to a wrong question. (Harold Sala, Guidelines)

Have you ever turned those three little words around and asked: “Why not me?” If I ask “why me” about my troubles, then I have to ask “why me” about my blessings. Just start with your home, food and a hot bath or shower. Our blessings are so many but so often times we take our little things for granted and instead of concentrating of our blessings we find ourselves fussing and often in despair over the tough times.  Easy to do, for all of us…but God has called us to be Thankful.  

He calls us to trust him in all things, and understand that through the tough times, we can either approach them with an open heart and mind to learn his lessons or we can choose to blame God for something that he has allowed to come our way and stay angry and become defensive.  For every event, be it trouble or joy, God ultimately has “his” best lined up for our good. It is through prayer, that God will give us his strength and wisdom and fortitude to carry on. It is through thanksgiving that God will fill our hearts with his love and grace and presence of mind that he is always with us.  

Have you ever considered when you whisper the “why me” that God might be replying “why not you?”  If you allow God to change the perspective around to “why not me?” then you are taking the blame away from him and instead making him your friend and advocate instead of your enemy. Therein lies the strength of having/building a relationship with God, who is the very best friend that any of us could imagine. He won’t let you down, he won’t abandon you and he will always be with you. For he is FOR you and I and is sincerely and lovingly fighting daily for our trust and companionship.

The great seventeenth century preacher and Archbishop of Canterbury, John Tillotson, once wrote, “Though all afflictions are evils in themselves, yet they are good for us, because they discover our disease and tend to our cure.” Do you believe that? For a moment ponder those words, “they discover our disease and tend to our cure.”

We are called to look beyond our troubles to the good which may come of them …which is part of the cure (the lesson)? Everybody who faces trouble is either better because of it or becomes bitter because of it–one or the other. As the book of Job says, “Man is born to trouble,” but it is not trouble which puts us under; it is our failure to learn from it.  

Think about it, and decide which side of the question, “Why?” you are on. It’s never too late to be asking, “Why not me?” and “Why so many blessings? This is the week of THANKSGIVING.  We all have so many blessings, despite our hardships, and those are what we must stay focused on.  For a thankful heart is our gift back to God.  

I am thankful for each of you who God has tapped to read these devotionals and I pray that this thanksgiving God will open your eyes to His blessings that have/will come from hardships that you have endured.  I pray that God will continue to remind you that you are a wonderful part of his fold and his love for you is something that is infinite.  That my friends is a blessing that we all can behold and believe in.  Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families and your friends.  

Blessings, Cathy

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!

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