Hope in Why

I’ve battled with the flu for the past week. It finally took me down Wednesday night and kept me in a daze of fever, coughing, sore throat, and exhaustion. During one of those restless nights, I found myself asking “Why?”. It was a general why, not relating to any specific topic. As I lay in bed half asleep, half awake I began to think about how many times God must hear that question every day. It must be screamed, whispered, cried thousands, millions of times a day.

The magnificent thing about God is that He can bear to be questioned. He can hear every cry, and recognize every voice in the constant cacophony lifted up to Him. He understands what we are asking even when we don’t comprehend it ourselves.

The challenge we face as humans comes when we expect a response right away, and we usually expect a specific response. How many times have we missed God’s answer because it didn’t fit the parameters we set? Have you quit crying out to God because you didn’t feel heard, or didn’t receive a response? Do you feel like your cries are hopeless? Some prayers may go unanswered for years. Some questions may not have answers this side of heaven. That doesn’t mean we should give up crying out? Sometimes a simple “why” can lead to so much more than you dreamed.

It’s Sunday night as I finish this off and I’m still running a fever. I don’t know why I’ve been sick this long when I rarely get more than a sniffle, but I do know that God has given me time to rest, to set aside work, volunteering, writing, studying, and everything else that fills my days. I know that God has a bigger plan that I cannot see and I’m trusting in Him to answer that subconscious why from my restless night when the timing is right.

• hope