GOD Can Turn Your WHY Into WOW!Throughout life there arises a singular word that expresses the sound of a perplexed soul in a questionable predicament. The word alone needs no introduction or adjectives to help communicate its meaning. That word is "why?"
As a child growing up in church that word was forbidden to evaporate out of the chambers of our mouths. They told us to never ask God "why." Over the course of time I found myself silently breaking that law as pressures, problems and plights rushed questions to this finite mind. I wasn't trying to be selfish or disobedient to their rules. I just needed to know what I could do to avoid that experience from repeating itself in life. If there was an answer God would know it! Perhaps He would whisper the solution to the hidden secrets and travesties that have scarred and scorned humanity.
As I walked through the pages of the Holy Writ I ran into some notable characters crying out in anguish and honesty during times of turmoil. Jeremiah, the prophet, lamented. David, the king cried. Elijah, Nehemiah, and others had their times of sheer sobbing over situations they could not personally handle or change.
Now before we pull out our tissue boxes let me caution you that I am not writing this to start a sympathy card collection. I am writing this article to remind you that God can turn your question marks into exclamation points! He can use that hardship, suffering and conflict in your life to produce a vessel of quality and excellence! He can turn your "why" into "wow!"
- In your worst God is at His best! Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12 that there was given to him a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him lest he become exalted above measure due to the abundance or revelations that was given to him. He even admitted that he sought the Lord three times that it might leave him alone! The Lord responded with a "wow" sentence: "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." vs. 9 That one sentence had such a powerful effect in Paul's life that he went from sorrow to gladness and began to write "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. vs 9(b) Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." vs.10
- During your trials God can produce treasures! "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us" 2 Cor. 4:7 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; (vs. 9) Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down but not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." (vs.10)
- There's a greater glory to His story! "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 2 Cor. 4:17 Allow God to change your "why" into a "wow!" Let Him take you from a question mark to an exclamation point. Let Him get the glory out of your story. Keep walking, take pleasure in the situation. Watch lives change, curses reverse and revelation knowledge pour into your heart!