The Hard Question

A Devotional

Written by: Billy Murdock

When someone we love has been diagnosed with cancer, there is always that one question that we ask:  Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?  On one side of the question some imagine that the Lord would never allow believers to suffer or to go through trials. Then there are those who think that God directly authors every calamity that has ever happened on the earth. The truth has to be found somewhere in the middle, and therein is the great distress.

God permits us to have trials so that we can grow to maturity and become strong in Him.

Consider a little plant. If it doesn’t push through the soil, sustain the wind, and hold up under rain, it cannot develop the girth to stand when its branches grow broad and heavy. The same is true of us. When Jesus allows a testing to come into our lives, it is not because He is trying to discourage us or harm us. He simply wants us to develop endurance so that we can stand through a future day of difficulty and be a comfort to others.  James 1:3 says, “The testing of your faith produces steadfastness”, and Paul wrote, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (II Corinthians 1:3-4).

The Word of God states, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” Our Heavenly Father uses our sickness to turn our dependence fully on Him.

He wants us to cling to Him and find peace in Him alone. The greatest battle that is waged is not the sickness . . . it is the tension that we feel when we pose the hard question.