I think Wednesdays are one of my favorite days of the week; I get to see Beth Moore! And today was no exception. Today’s thesis was We Get to Ask Why! We get to ask why when that ‘cup’ we prayed NOT to drink, must be drank. She said it’s okay when the mini blinds are closed and the house is empty of all others, only you and God are home, to let out that groan from the depths of your gut, “Why, God, Why”? Drop to the carpet, prostrate if you will, pound the floor with your hands, weep and scream as loud as you may, kick your feet and cry out ‘Why, Lord, why’?
Matthew 26:
42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.”
44 So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
Mark 15:
33 Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Psalm 22:
1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
And before we leave the carpet, let us also confess: ‘But You are holy! And I will praise You even in this’!
When we have a heart like this for our God Who does not make mistakes, we CAN ask WHY!
Beth told of a time when she did this – she dropped to the floor, she screamed, she pounded her fists, she kicked her feet and she cried, ‘WHY’? Father did not tell her why but when she arose from the carpet she felt better.
And then she gave us this nugget that Father gave her: even though her sorrow and her grief were so deep, so vast, it had come with the privilege of knowing and loving that little girl.
Loving someone deeply, loving someone more than your own breathing is a privilege; and yet with that privilege may come immense sorrow; sorrow so deep that we in our humanity, even as Our Lord, may ask WHY? You see we can only be moved so profoundly to ask Why, Lord, Why, when we have experienced a love that we wouldn’t have missed for the world – not even gut wrenching sorrow! And when we experience this, we don’t have to know why, but asking sure seems to help!