Why Is This Happening to Me?

“Why is this happening to me?” As a pastor, I get asked this question a lot. When struggles and difficulties come, it is natural to want to know the “why.” Sometimes the “why” is obvious, such as a bad decision we made, or an unintended consequence resulting from our choices. Other times, our headaches and heartaches are not about choices we made but about things that have happened to us through no fault of our own: cancer, losing your home in a fire, getting mugged, losing a loved one, rape, murder… Discerning the “why” is much more difficult in these situations, and are usually the situations that are occasion the question, “why is this happening to me?”

One of my life verses as a pastor is Isaiah 50:4 (NLT),

The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom,
so that I know how to comfort the weary.
Morning by morning he wakens me
and opens my understanding to his will.

I regularly make this verse a prayer for myself. Pastors should be people who are well attuned to the Lord’s voice, familiar with His Word, and be able to discern His will in ministering to His people. I believe He wants to give us the wisdom needed to comfort the weary; and I believe it is more than a desire, but a promise! Yet, and I think I speak for all of us, when I say that we pastors are not often in possession of some secret knowledge that will result in the questioner saying, “Well know that I understand why, I’m OK with this.” We rarely have the very specific answers that people seek in understanding the “why” of suffering.

This is further compounded by the fact that the question, “why is this happening to me,” is often masking other questions that are stewing just beneath the surface. Questions like,

What did I do wrong to deserve this?

Why is God punishing me?

Why isn’t God answering my prayers to rescue me from this suffering?

Why has God stopped caring for me?

In the coming week, my plan is to attempt to address these questions. My hope is that in sharing what I have been learning about these questions that you, my readers, will be strengthened and encouraged and equipped to live for God through Christ faithfully in times of suffering.