Live Happy … Today – Day 11

[Background: Here is an excerpt from a reader’s e-mail I received: “Benescke, it is wonderful to hear about answered prayers. My husband, however, was an alcoholic and sick for 8 years before he died. I prayed a lot for his healing because I did not want to raise our two children without a father. Why didn’t God answer my prayer?”]

The core of this question (which I receive often from readers), is this: Why does a good God allow bad things to happen to good people? Why does he answer some prayers and seem not to answer others? We can also add: Why are there so many natural disasters? Why doesn’t God stop murderers or child molesters from destroying lives? Or why are there so many poor people living on the street?

These questions are endless and there are no easy answers to them. We need to remember our daily struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the evil forces in the air (Ephesians 6:12). The enemy’s strategy is to harm us and then try to make us believe it is God who did it, so we would blame Him. The truth is, God sees the bigger picture and he keeps us close to his heart during any storm in our lives – even if it does not feel like it. We need to trust him and know that he stays in control of our lives, and can use any situation to bring us closer to him, if we allow him to do it.

In Isaiah 55:8-9 God says: “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” In 2 Corinthians 12:9, Paul writes that he asked God three times to take away the thorn in his flesh. God’s answer was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

God’s grace will strengthen and carry us through every storm in our lives. It does not matter whether you are sitting in a difficult marriage, have lost a lot of money, have a sick spouse at home, struggle to get free from an addiction, have a challenge in the workplace or as the above-mentioned reader, sit with a broken heart and a lot of questions. You can know that God will give you the measure of grace and strength you need to cope with that situation. He promised that he would never allow anything to cross your path that you are not able to handle, didn’t he?

Sometimes, we need to put our questions aside and focus on God. He is in control. His grace is sufficient for us. He works everything together for the good in the lives of those who trust him to do it. Why don’t you choose to trust him for the best in your life? God bless.