Why Does God Ignore ‘Why’ Questions?

In the New Testament, Yeshua introduced God to us as a Father. This presupposes that we have a relationship with Him. We are no longer servants but joint heirs with the Messiah (Romans 8:17). Such a relationship gives us access to the throne of grace that was denied Old Testament saints. In Luke 7:28, Yeshua said of John the Baptist, “I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John, yet even the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he”.

Is that not awesome? Those who have received the new life in Messiah are called “children of God” as attested to by John 1:12-13: “But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God – children born not of blood, nor of the desire or the will of man, but born of God”.

Just like any other relationship, the one we share with God has its ups and downs. Of course, God does not change. We are the ones who are emotionally charged and are subject to change because of the circumstances of our physical birth and the things life throws on our laps. Because we are learning to relate with a Divine Being, we sometimes become impatience with His ways. 

We want things done in our time but He lives in eternity where time is of no essence. We have a sick child that medical science has given up on. We smile at the doctors and affirm our faith by declaring “God will heal my child”. Then we mobilise other Christians to pray for the child, trusting in the word that Yeshua said in Mathew 18:19, “Again, I tell you truly that if two of you on the earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven”.

Time passes and the child grows weaker as the sickness spreads through his tiny body. We intensify our prayers. We go on a long fast. There is no sign that heaven is even aware of our pains. Then the little one succumbs to the sickness and satan begins to torment us with thoughts. “God does not exist”, “God does not answer prayers” or “God does not love you”. We cry out to the LORD asking why He did not honour the pledge of His Son in the cited Scripture. We ask God why He chose to allow our child to die but heaven still ignores us.

 Substitute the sick child with a disastrous marriage, failed business, sudden death of a loved one or any other travail that afflicts mankind. It is clear that no Christian has been spared the pains of unanswered prayer. Sometimes, our disappointment with God pushes us to the brink of despair. Some of us even lose our faith altogether. In an article published in quora.com, C. S. Friedman, a Jew explained that some survivors of the Holocaust embraced atheism as they could not reconcile the vision of a caring God with the horror they experienced in Nazi concentration camps. He said that even those who remained religious, still contend with the hangover of life under Hitler’s Third Reich and its effect on their faith in God. Friedman noted that some religious Jews do not believe that God is involved in their day-to-day-lives. Thus, they might turn to Him for inspiration, moral guidance or a sense of purpose but not favours.

Getting angry with God for His seeming insensitivity to the plight of humanity is nothing new. Let us start with Adam and Eve. What parents would not question God for the death of their child? Though Scripture is silent on the response of the first couple to the murder of Abel by his brother Cain, it is not superfluous to impute that they would have posed the ‘why questions’ to God. Still in the Old Testament, Jeremiah’s outburst in chapter 12 of his book is another case in point. He said in verse 1, “LORD, if I argue with You, You are always right.

But I want to ask You about some things that don’t seem right. Why are wicked people successful? Why do people You cannot trust have such easy life? Rather than answer the ‘why question’ posed by the prophet, God said to him in verse 5, “Jeremiah, if running in a race against men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you trip and fall in a safe place, what will you do in a dangerous place? What will you do in the thornbushes that grow along the Jordan?”

 Jeremiah’s dirge continued in Lamentations 5:19-22, “You, LORD, reign forever; Your throne endured from generation to generation. Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to Yourself, LORD, that we may return; renew our days as of old unless You have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure”.

Even David, the ‘man after God’s heart’ (1 Samuel 13:14), felt abandoned by Him. David cried out in Psalm 13:1-2, “How long O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?” Psalm 89 also records questions directed at God over His perceived abandonment of Israel. In verse 36, the author, Ethan the Ezrahite questioned the validity of God’s promise to ensure that David’s offspring sits on his throne forever.

He lamented that God has cast off and rejected David’s offspring and renounced His covenant with Israel by refusing to stop its enemies from killing its people. He asked pointedly in verses 46-47, “How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? How long shall Your wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is! Why have You made all people in such emptiness?” Of course, Ethan softened his rhetoric by concluding his lamentation with praises in verse 52, “Blessed be the LORD forever! Amen and Amen”.

 Other people who walked with God in both Old and New Testaments also had moments to question the providence of God. Job may have passed the first test of losing his children and properties by declaring, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD (Job 1:21). However, as his torments intensified, he asked God, “Have I sinned? What am I doing to You, O You watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, so that I am a burden to myself? And why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? (Job 7:20-21a).

We should be encouraged to know that even the Messiah felt abandoned by the Father. In the Messianic Psalm 22:1-3, He lamented,  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel”. This prophesy was fulfilled when Yeshua cried out “My God, my God, why have You abandoned me?” (Mark 15:34).

Does God indeed ignore our ‘why questions’? Verse 24 of Psalm 22 gives us a clue to the disposition of God when His children cry out to Him in their pains. It says, “For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from him; but when he cried to Him, He heard”. Being humans, we want immediate solution to our problems. It is worst when our emotions are involved, especially in the case of serious sickness involving our loved ones or any other issue that affects our welfare. Because we are very short-sighted in our outlook on life, it takes the grace of God for us to see His hands in our trials. We know He loves us. But that makes matters even worse. We wonder how a loving Father could fold His hands and allow us or our loved ones to suffer. Even when He sends words of encouragement to us through other Christians, we are sceptical of its import. What we want is immediate relief; not platitudes that do not lessen our pains.

Personally, I have had cause to question God’s love for me due to the severity of demonic attacks on my body. I am totally convinced that satan does not have any grounds to afflict my body. I never sinned against him because he is not my creator. God is the One who gave up His Son to die in my place; to redeem me from the curse of the law and to translate me from the realm of darkness into the Kingdom of Christ. What I have realised is that any affliction allowed by God is for our own good. That is what David said in Psalm 119:71, “It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes”. This is echoed in James 1:1-4, “Consider it pure joy, my brother, when you are involved in various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But you must let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing”.

Similar admonition is given by Peter in chapter 1, verses 6-7 of his first book: “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now, if for a little while, you have had to suffer various trials, in order that the genuineness of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tried by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honour at the revelation of Yeshua the Messiah”. In the same vein, Paul who obviously contended with many unanswered questions from God concluded that our pains and perplexity have a purpose. He explained that our trials are intended to prepare us for ministry because we can only help others in the measure of comfort that we have received from God. Verses 3-7 of 1 Corinthians chapter one declare:

 “Blessed be the God, the Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation; that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble by the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. As the sufferings of Messiah abound in us, so our consolation and salvation, which is effective in enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. Our hope is steadfast, knowing that as you partake in the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation”.

What then should be our attitude to trials that make us question God’s love and providence? The first thing is for us to settle the matter of the character of God. Psalm 138:2 declares that God magnifies His word above His name. Also, Psalm 12:6 states that “the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace”. This is the same God who said in Isaiah 49:15-16, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; thy walls are continually before me”. Psalm 90:10 also had this to say on the faithfulness of God, “Those who know Your name will trust You, for You have not forsaken those who seek You, LORD”. Another word of encouragement for those is pains is found in Psalm 37:28, “Indeed, the LORD loves justice, and He will not abandon His godly ones. They are kept safe forever, but the lawless will be chased away, and the descendants of the wicked will be cut off”.

So, rather than ask Him “why LORD?” try using a more productive approach. I would suggest asking God the ‘what question’ instead. If you are going through stuff that make you doubt the love of God or the validity of His promises in Christ, ask Him to reveal to you, what He wants you to learn from the experience. God’s ultimate goal is not to punish you. According to Hebrews 12:6, “God disciplines those He loves and scourges every son He receives”. He measures our trials with the loving hands of a Father. In 1 Corinthians 10-13, Paul assures us that “No temptation (or trial) has taken you except what is common to man, God is faithful, and He will not permit you to be tempted above what you can endure, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it”.

I conclude this piece with an excerpt from Dr.  James Dobson’s book, When God Doesn’t Make Sense: “If you believe God is obligated to explain Himself to us, you ought to examine the following Scriptures. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 25:2, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter”. Isaiah 45:15 states, “Truly You are a God who hides Himself”. Deuteronomy 29:29 reads, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God”. Ecclesiastes 11:5 proclaims, “As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things”. Isaiah 55:8-9 teaches, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares that LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher that your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”. Clearly the Scripture tells us that we lack the capacity to grasp God’s infinite mind or the way He intervenes in our lives”.

What then should be our attitude to trials that make us question God’s love and providence? The first thing is for us to settle the matter of the character of God. Psalm 138:2 declares that God magnifies His word above His name. Also, Psalm 12:6 states that “the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace”. This is the same God who said in Isaiah 49:15-16, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; thy walls are continually before me”. Psalm 90:10 also had this to say on the faithfulness of God, “Those who know Your name will trust You, for You have not forsaken those who seek You, LORD”. Another word of encouragement for those is pains is found in Psalm 37:28, “Indeed, the LORD loves justice, and He will not abandon His godly ones. They are kept safe forever, but the lawless will be chased away, and the descendants of the wicked will be cut off”.

 So, rather than ask Him “why LORD?” try using a more productive approach. I would suggest asking God the ‘what question’ instead. If you are going through stuff that make you doubt the love of God or the validity of His promises in Christ, ask Him to reveal to you, what He wants you to learn from the experience. God’s ultimate goal is not to punish you. According to Hebrews 12:6, “God disciplines those He loves and scourges every son He receives”. He measures our trials with the loving hands of a Father. In 1 Corinthians 10-13, Paul assures us that “No temptation (or trial) has taken you except what is common to man, God is faithful, and He will not permit you to be tempted above what you can endure, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it”.

             I conclude this piece with an excerpt from Dr.  James Dobson’s book, When God Doesn’t Make Sense: “If you believe God is obligated to explain Himself to us, you ought to examine the following Scriptures. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 25:2, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter”. Isaiah 45:15 states, “Truly You are a God who hides Himself”. Deuteronomy 29:29 reads, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God”. Ecclesiastes 11:5 proclaims, “As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things”. Isaiah 55:8-9 teaches, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares that LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher that your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”. Clearly the Scripture tells us that we lack the capacity to grasp God’s infinite mind or the way He intervenes in our lives”.