My child, I have a message for you today. Let me whisper it in your ear so any storm clouds that may arise will shine with glory, and the rough places you may have to walk will be made smooth. It is only four words, but let them sink into your inner being, and use them as a pillow to rest your weary head. “This is my doing.” (1 Kings 12:24)

This quote from the devotional Streams in the Desert (Reimann and Cowman, Zondervan.) is one which causes all of us to pause, reflect, and ask the following question.

Is what’s happening in my life today God’s doing?

Whenever I am asked this, I pause, take a deep breath, sigh, and pray.  Caution flags and flashing yellow lights warn me that I am about to wade into deep waters.

Is what’s happening in my life today God’s doing?

I stammer, if not audibly, then mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

I know half the answer.

However, the moment I give that straight-forward monosyllabic answer, I know I will be asked, the next question, the question I cannot answer.

It’s the second question I fear.

Why?

I do not know.  If I could explain why to the point of your satisfaction, to the point of my satisfaction, I’d be a millionaire.  I would be on TV, I’d be invited to speak everywhere, I’d become a New York Times Best-Selling author in a matter of months.

I do believe that what’s happening in my life today is God’s doing!  I just do not know why God is doing it or letting it be done to me.  It does not matter if the happening is good or bad, a blessing or a suffering, I cannot explain why.

I no longer try to answer the why question, especially when it’s about suffering.

I simply offer love and compassion.  I simply choose to stand before God with those who suffer.  To the best of my ability, I will share the yoke of their pain and walk with them through the valley of the shadow of death.

All I can do it to trust God and offer hope, believing that Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13:12 are truth:  “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully.”