Why would a Loving God....

Why would a loving God….

How long, Lord, must I call for help and you do not listen or cry out to You about violence and You do not save?

Why do You force me to look at injustice? Why do You tolerate wrong doing? Oppression and violence are right in front of me. Strife is ongoing and the conflict escalates.

This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.

Habakkuk 1: 2-4

The lobby was packed full of customers on a busy Friday afternoon. This was before Wi-Fi connected at every store and direct deposit was required by most every employer. Customers still walked into the bank to make deposits, open accounts, and apply for loans. I sat with a man, trying to make heads or tails of his checkbook, patiently, I helped him as the clients piled up. Once we were done, I started to stand to hurry him from my desk and help the next customer. He remained seated and began to talk about his wife. My wife, he said, is the one that always handled the bank book, but she has been sick and I’ve had to take time off from work to take care of her, he explained.

This man smelled of many cigarettes smoked over many years, his skin was like leather and his hands showed hard working years with callouses upon callouses. He wore a well, worn plaid shirt with an equally well, worn pair of jeans. His hair had not been cut in a while and he shook a little as we talked. He began to tell me of his wife’s illness and how there was no hope of her recovering. They were in the final days and he had left her side for a little while to refill her medicines and get things to make her comfortable. I began to shuffle in my chair, not sure what to do. We were in the middle of the lobby and others were impatiently listening to our conversation as he spoke of his wife like we were the only two there. He began to look past me as he spoke, no longer speaking to me, just speaking. I listened until I could no longer make the others wait and stood. I told him I would keep her in my prayers and patted his arm.  

It was at that moment his thoughts came back to the lobby and he ask me a question I could not answer and one I have never forgotten. I still hear his broken voice, “What am I going to do? She’s the only woman I have ever loved. “With that, he turned and left. I found it hard to swallow and made my way to the next couple that had been waiting. My eyes filled with tears and I apologized as I looked away for a moment and made time to watch him leave.

Have you ever been ask, how could a loving God allow bad things to happen? If you haven’t, just wait, you will. The Profit, Habakkuk, ask God these question. Why Lord, How long Lord? All questions, I myself ask when the storms roll in. How long Lord, will you allow this oppression. Why, God, do you allow the wicked to prevail? It seems that we are not the first to ask God these questions.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,

against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12

I do not have the answers you seek with this with this blog. I do not know why one woman can bear children, while another cannot. I do not know why people die young, and others live to be 100. I do not know why bad things happen to some and others seems to have a golden life. I can tell you that this is not our permanent home. This land we live on is the Principality of the enemy and he will stop at nothing to make followers of Christ miserable.

 The enemy uses others to come against us. Try looking at the person causing you pain as a person being used by the enemy. That will make you pray for that person a lot differently. I had a Pastor, tell me stop envisioning the person hurting me, as flesh and start seeing that person in a way that would cause me to pray for them. Now when I pray for someone coming against me, I see them covered in a dark tar, choking them and preventing them from seeing the light. The tar represents the evil spilling out over them. I being to pray that the Light break through the dark, thick, tar and allow them to be used as vessels of the King, not the enemy.

Why do bad things happen? Look at the scripture. Bad things happen because we fight against powers, rulers, and spiritual hosts in wickedness. There is a lot going on in the heavenly realms. God’s forces are surrounding us to protect us. When I go through a storm, I try to remember how much worse it would be without God’s hedge of protection around me and my family. There is a reason for everything we go through and a testimony waiting to help another.

I encourage you to read the book of Habakkuk. It is a great read that goes through a conversation with God.

Lord, I lift up those asking you, why? I pray for those that seek answers for the bad things that have happened in their lives or the lives of those around them. I pray as they seek answers, they find peace in knowing that you have already won. Lord thank you for the opportunity to minister to others. May these words touch someone, today. Amen