Have you ever heard anybody ask the question, “Why is this happening to me?” Sometime the answer is cut and dried. The circumstances are evident as to why certain things happened. Other times, it is not so clear. There might underlying factors that can’t be seen that cause things to happen.
We see this scenario in the Old Testament with different people. In the book of Genesis, after God told Cain the ground would no longer yield its fruit for him and that he would be a restless wanderer, Cain said to God, “My punishment is more than I can bear.” In essence, Cain was asking why is this happening to me? Of course, we know why; he killed his brother Abel.
During the journey out of captivity from Egypt to Canaan, Israel encountered several obstacles that caused them to cry out to Moses in essence, “Why is this happening to us?” The first being coming to Red Sea and Pharoah’s army pursuing them. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” (Exodus 14:11). The ironic thing about this is that God purposely led Israel this way, even though it was not the shortest from Egypt to Canaan. God was afraid that if He led Israel through the land of the Philistines and they faced war, they would return to Egypt. The thing is, Israel left Egypt prepared for war! (See Exodus 13:17, 18). Israel always seemed to be complaining and doubting God. So, they would in essence ask, “Why is this happening to us?” The answer was quite simple, they lacked faith in God even though He had proved Himself to them time and time again.
In Old Testament times, God often sent plagues, famines, and oppressors when His people would turn away from Him. They would cry out to God and He would send them a deliverer to remind Israel that it was because they had turned from God and His word and were no longer listening to His counsel. Their lives were in peril because they failed to follow the instructions of the Author of life!
Since the Spirit of God now dwells in Christians, dealing with a lack of faith or turning from God is handled differently under the New Testament. In Romans 1, Paul addresses how God deals with those who turn away from Him. Paul spoke of how people knew God but did not glorify Him or give Him thanks. They began worshiping the created instead of the Creator. Paul says they exchanged the truth of God for a lie. Look at Romans 1:26-28–26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. God pretty much gave them free reign to do as they pleased, if they didn’t repent, it would cost them their soul! The same is true for us today. We cannot be saved in our sins.
So, I hear people today ask, “Why is this happening?” Well, we really don’t have to look far to get an answer. Look how far away we have gotten from God and His word. Vulgarity, immorality, greed, lust, and self-centeredness define our society today. Things that God considers detestable are celebrated in our culture. God’s truth is being exchanged for a lie.
If we want things to get better, we need to return to God and it has to start with God’s people taking stand.
Read Malachi 3:6-17