Why God Doesn’t Answer My Why Question

How many times have you asked God, why? How many times has he answered you? My experience is that I rarely get a why question answered. To which I would say, why? And since God doesn’t answer the why question, what should we do instead?

Sometimes He answers – sort of!

If we study the scriptures, we find some general answers to the questions. There are principles in God’s word that help us understand his will and his ways. These open our eyes to why some things happen to us. For example, we know that the world groans under the curse of sin. There is nothing healthy or good about sin, so we can expect some bad things to happen because of it.

We also know that we have free will. Sadly, many people use their free will to inflict suffering on others. God will not impugn his integrity by negating the free will of some and not others. Just as you are free to reject all God has to offer for your life, you are free to engage in evil activity that hurts others.

Sometimes we are the answer to the why question. I visited the emergency room where a friend had just been in a car accident and was injured. To make matters worse there was a police officer by the door. She wondered why God had allowed this to happen to her when she was trying so hard to be faithful. It turns out, she was driving without insurance and failed to yield for oncoming traffic. Clearly, the problem was not with God who allowed this to happen. God does not save us from the consequences of our foolish choices.

Mostly he doesn’t answer to our satisfaction

Job searched for an answer to his suffering. When he was finally face to face with God, he still didn’t get an answer. While the readers of Job know what happened, Job never did. As it turned out, Job was fine with it.

I have experienced the frustration of not knowing why. Why didn’t I get that promotion when I had done everything right and was more than qualified? Why was I passed up by some who were less qualified? I don’t know.

Why Doesn’t God answer?

Sometimes, like Job, there is a higher purpose that we cannot see. Since our perspective is limited to the human plane, we won’t always be able to comprehend the entire purpose of God in the circumstances of our lives.

Just because we know why something happens to us, that may not change the event at all! Sometimes, it’s better not to know why!

No matter what happens, we know we can trust God. And that is what God wants us to do. Followers of Jesus have suffered for the sake of the gospel for 2000 years. We can trust that God looks out for us as we follow. Trust is essential.

Why we may never know

I have heard countless people say something like this: “I am going ask God about that when I get to heaven.” This sounds good but I really don’t think it’s realistic. Two reasons for this:

It won’t matter when we get to heaven. When we are experiencing the glory of that awesome place, the trivial things of earth won’t matter. Have you ever had to wait for something good to happen to you or for you? If you have been through a season of anticipation, you know that it sometimes seems endless and you cannot wait another day. But you wait and it happens and suddenly the wait doesn’t seem bad at all. Realizing a hope makes the wait fade into the past and into insignificance.

The reason may always be beyond our comprehension. Just because we are in heaven, we do not become super beings. We won’t ever be able to comprehend all the things God does because he is God and we are not, nor will we ever be!

What to do instead of asking why

Do these three things instead of asking why and you will find far more peace and satisfaction.

Trust God. Live your life by faith and you will find that God is always faithful and will never let you down. While many things may still happen to you that you question or wonder about, knowing that God is in control will give you powerful assurance that the end result will be good.

Keep your relationship with Jesus strong. Part of that is trusting. It also means communicating through prayer and Bible reading, worshiping, obedience in service and living a positive and encouraging life! Knowing that Jesus is going through everything with you will strengthen you for even the most difficult trial.

Ask God what he wants you to learn. Instead of asking why, say ‘what do you want me to learn?’ God often teaches us through the seasons of suffering or difficult events and circumstances of life. By asking God this question, you will learn more about him, yourself and life. In my experience, this is a question he answers.

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