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About Jesus Steve Sweetman So
Many Why’s As the
steel bar slowly slides from one fret to another across the neck of a
steel guitar it produces that sad sounding cry that many country music
fans love. The cry of the
steel guitar struck a chord in my heart as I listened to George Jones’
song entitled “He Stopped Loving
Her Today”. My dad, who played the steel guitar used to tell me that
its sound sent shivers up his spine.
A musician would understand my dad’s sentiments.
The steel
guitar in George Jones’ song reminded me of my father who died of
cancer in June 2001 after looking after my mother who had a major stroke
in 1994. I was really
hoping, and sometimes praying that my mom would leave for Heaven before
my dad, so he could have a few remaining years of life without the
stress of looking after mom. That
didn’t happen. My mom died
about 18 months after my dad. She
spent those 18 months in a depressing nursing home.
Situations like these make one wonder “why”.
Why did my mom and dad who were Christians suffer the way they
did at the end of their lives?
Then
there’s my friend who was miraculously healed of cancer in 1974.
She was given a few short weeks to live back then.
Now thirty three years later after Jesus cleaned up her cancer
filled body she’s still alive. Yet
like my mom, she’s living out her last years in a nursing home. She
suffers from Alzheimer’s while her husband faces the same stress as my
dad did while looking after mom. This
couple more than most has served Jesus for many years.
The same question arises.
“Why”? And
especially “why do such good Christians end their days in such
suffering”? A while
back Larry King interviewed one of To my
amazement the pastor had no answer.
He couldn’t even offer an educated guess.
He just told Larry that he didn’t know, almost as if the
question didn’t matter. Well
the question does matter, especially when one asks it in the midst of
their suffering. I know
there’s lots of questions that we as Christians can’t answer
properly, but I don’t think this is one of them. The
answer is not a great mystery. The
Genesis account makes it clear that when man removed himself from
God’s good graces, he brought death and decay into all of creation.
All people live under the judgment of God as seen in Genesis 3
whether they’re Christians or not.
It couldn’t be more simple.
We all endure the Adamic Curse until that time comes when
Jesus destroys the last enemy of God which is death. (1 Cor. 15) This
is one of the great hopes we have as Christians. So why
did my dad die of cancer? Why
did my mom have that stroke? Why
was my friend saved from death in 1974 only to live in misery now?
And why did the apostle Paul say that “outwardly we are wasting
away”? (2 Cor. 4:16)
We live in a fallen world where death and decay is the norm.
That’s the simple answer.
So if
anyone asks you the “why” question, tell him the answer . Then
proceed to explain the gospel to them that includes Jesus’ plan to
eventually relieve all the suffering, war, and torment that so many in
our world experience.
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