God works in mysterious ways. We hear that all the time. On occassion, we may even have muttered it ourselves. It is true that we often don’t understand what God is doing in our lives. Things happen and we don’t know why. We face sickness and are at a loss to explain it. People betray us and we don’t realize why. We get laid off or feel the money pinch and we don’t get it. Why? Why? Why?
Why is a tough question. Job is an interesting character in the Old Testament. The Bible describes him this way, “There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless—a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil” (Job 1:1, NLT). Job was a man of outstanding character. Furthermore, the Bible goes on to tell us that he was also a man of some means. He had a large family and several large herds of livestock. Both of these were seen as signs of wealth in Job’s day. Life could not be better for Job. Then, the bottom fell out. He lost everything. He lost his family and his wealth. He suffered physically. His wife and his friends turned on him. Job went from the penthouse to the outhouse.
The word “why” appears twenty-one times in the book of Job. Job had a lot of questions. You and I are privy to a behind the scenes conversation in the book of Job. We get to see that Satan is behind all of Job’s troubles. Job, however, never gets this information. As a matter of fact, God never tells Job exactly why his life fell apart. God simply reminds Job that He is in complete control of life.
In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul gives us a great promise from God. He writes, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28, NLT). While Paul may not help us understand why, he does assure us that God is at work in those uncertain times. Notice that the Bible does not say everything that happens to us is good. It’s not. But we can know that God is working in all the circumstances of our lives – the good, the bad, and the ugly. He is working to develop us into the person He created and redeemed us to be.
God may choose to tell us why. My experience has been that most of the time he does not. While there is nothing wrong with asking why, we might just be better served in asking a different question. Perhaps instead of asking “why,” we should ask “what.” Instead of saying, “why me God?” ask “what are you trying to teach me?” The promise of God is that He is truly working in our lives. We may not understand how, but know that He is. Know that He is using all the difficult things to grow us. This doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easier to go through these times, but it can help encourage us the next time we want to ask why.
Posted by Darrell Deer 
Husband, Father, Pastor, and Christ-follower. Thankful for the life, family, and ministry that God has given to me.
