Where is God when it Hurts?

Okay, so I stole the title of this blog from a Phillip Yancey book.

But it accurately captures the essence of what's on my mind.

Yesterday I preached one of the hardest sermons I've ever had to preach. The text was Matthew 7:7-11. The Big Idea was that God hears and answers our persistent prayers.

That's a great promise of Scripture, illustrated by other stories that Jesus told such as the man who need to borrow bread from his friend in the middle of the night (Luke 11:5-13) and the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8).

Yet there is also a huge problem: Not all of our prayers are answered.

I'm not talking about trivial prayers or prayers that spring from wrong motives that are purely selfish and self-indulgent (see James 4:1-4).

Rather, I'm talking about heart-wrenching, persistent prayers for the healing of a loved one, or the turning back to Christ of a wayward child, or the sparing of a sick and dying child, and similar situations.

Wrestling with the deep hurt and pain and grief of loss and unanswered prayers is a real issue that people face regularly. I myself prayed daily (usually multiple times a day) for seven years for God to heal my father of a terminal heart condition. God answered that prayer by taking dad home to be with the Lord at the young age of 44.

Christians like to talk about the miracles and victories. And we should celebrate those things and praise God for them!

But what happens when God chooses not to do the miracle? What happens when the worst we could think becomes reality?

There are no easy answers. As a pastor I want to throw my arms around folks experiencing that kind of pain and grief, cry with them, and tell them I don't understand why God allows these things and I'm so sorry.

Theologically I can tell them that we still live in a fallen, sinful world. And part of the consequences of that state is that there will be sickness, disease, and death. There will be tragedy and violence and unspeakable evil.

The comfort we can take as Christians is that despite appearances to the contrary, God is on his throne and He is in control. And no matter what horrifc things come our way, God can work those things out for our good and His glory.

Though we may have to endure pain and hurt and loss for a time here and now, there will be a day when all wrongs are put right, all hurts will be healed, and all suffering will be over.

Forever (see Revelation 21:1-4).

Where is God when it hurts? He is right there beside us, granting us the grace and strength to persevere through whatever storms we are facing (Psalm 23:4).