Don’t Ask Why God Has Reasons You Won’t Understand Or May Never Know

Hello, and welcome to Social Media Ministries where our mission is to spread the living Word of Christ to as many people as possible through the use of social media. My name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you very much for tuning in today.

If you haven’t already subscribed, please do so using the subscribe buttons below. Hit the bell icon to be notified when we post new content and hopefully by the end of this video you’ll decide that you like it and click on that like button.

Now we are Social Media Ministries, again my name is Spencer Coffman, and our mission is to spread the living Word of Christ using social media. Now we can only do that if you help us by using those share icons below.

Today we’ve got a great message, so we are going to dive right into it. We’re talking about sometimes when life gets really tough, and something may be happening in your life. Maybe you have lost someone, [or] maybe you have a health ailment.

I have gone through several myself, and I know that in that time when you know that your life could be over or it’s so significant that you wonder if you are gonna make it another year, another six months – there are tons of things, cancer is a big one, and it’s really, really tough sometimes not to be worried about what the future will hold.

By worrying, I don’t mean like a worrywart or someone who is just constantly, constantly thinking about all the what-ifs in life because you definitely cannot live your life by what-ifs. However, I mean something as simple as for some reason you can’t sleep at night and you don’t know why, there’s something going on in your mind, and you’re worried about it.

Or [there’s] something happening in your life and you just question why it is happening. Why did so-and-so have to die or why am I sick or why is so-and-so sick? What is going on, and you just keep asking those questions?

Now what is the point of all of that? Well, number one: what is the point of asking the questions? Because you are asking God, who if you trust Him, you don’t need to question why. Now that’s a big thing that a lot of people struggle with.

They say, “Well I want to know why.” We are inquiring and inquisitive by nature; we’re curious. But remember curiosity killed the cat, so you don’t want to be too curious. God will not always tell you why you are doing something or why He is doing something in your life.

Remember there are a few things that you ask for in this life and one of them is to be more like Jesus. That’s a huge prayer that all Christians should be praying, and that we want all people to do. We want everyone to be more like Jesus, and in order to do that, He might have to do things in your life that you don’t know why He is doing them.

If you don’t know why, then it’s not simply your position to sit there and question because then you are displaying a lack of trust. There is a very good point here. If you make your prayer to be more like Jesus, what does that mean?

Let’s go over a few points on what it means to be more like Jesus in this instance. Number one: if you’re asking to be more like Jesus, in this instance, God may be giving you trials in your life. Now you say, “Why is that being more like Jesus?” Do you think Jesus had it easy when He had to go through His time of ministry?

From the age of about 30 to about 33, He went all around. He had no place to lay His head. He was traveling. He didn’t have a home. People were out to get Him. People were plotting to kill Him.

He was undergoing a lot of trials, then in the very end, think of the unimaginable suffering that He had to go through to die for your sins – take your place. You want to be a little bit more like Jesus, you might have some trials and some sufferings in your life.

You have to completely trust in God that He is answering your prayer in that way making you more like Jesus. So instead of worrying or questioning, you should be thanking God. James tells us that, we have talked about it before, rejoice in your suffering because trials produce perseverance, etc. So keep that in mind, that your suffering may be more like Jesus.

Let’s take a look at some Scripture. We’re going to turn to Matthew 6:25-34. Now if you have your Bible, I really encourage you to turn there with me and follow along as I go through the verses.

If you’re not in a position to do that, don’t worry, I’m going to read them for you. But sometime later please go back and check it out. So again, Matthew 6:25-34. The bold heading on this passage is, “Do Not Worry.” It’s really a very very good passage of Scripture that we are going to dive into, and I am going to break it down piece by piece, so let’s go.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”

That is Verse 25; we’re going to pause right there. We’re going to go through this. This is very very huge; this is Jesus talking to you directly and you say, “Yes, but this could be at the point in time right now, this is over 2000 years ago, is it still relevant today?” Of course, it is relevant today.

Do not worry about your life. Okay, don’t worry about your life, whether you are going to die tomorrow or next year or in 20 years or in 50 years or in 90 years – don’t worry about it. Okay? What you will eat or drink – don’t worry about your body. So you think, oh man maybe I am a little overweight, maybe I need to hit the gym more, maybe I need to do this, maybe I gotta diet, exercise, all this stuff – don’t worry.

Now that is not saying don’t take care of yourself. [I’m] saying don’t become obsessed about it. What you will wear, don’t worry about that, you don’t have name-brand clothes, you don’t have perfect this, perfect that – don’t worry. Is not your life more important than all that? Of course, it is. Your life is way more important.

Now God wants you not to worry, and we’re going to come to why. So keep that down in your notes. Why are you not to worry – other than worrying and questioning God displays a lack of trust or doubt in God’s plan. There is a bigger reason that we are going to come to later, so make a note; we will come back. The main reason why you are not to worry is coming next.

Okay, Verse 26, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” You’re worth more than birds.

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like one of these.

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – oh you of little faith?”

[This is] very very huge; think of the flowers and the birds, and the squirrels, all those animals out there, [and] the woodland creatures; they have got food and they have got all kinds of stuff. They don’t worry about it, they know that their food is going to be there every day. They trust.

They spend their energy doing what they were meant to do. There is the key; we are coming back to that later. Keep making that note.

“Do not worry, saying, ‘what shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink? or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need him. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Alright, so there are a few main points. Number one: you don’t need to worry about all these things: food, clothing, shelter, all of that God knows you need. So if something is missing in your life, trust in God. Don’t worry about it. Why aren’t we to worry? Okay, that is great, but why don’t we need to worry?

Maybe you need a reason. Remember we are curious and inquisitive beings, so here is why. Look at the animals. They are provided for. Look at the birds; they’re good. The squirrels, all that, they have all their food. They don’t worry about it.

Look at the lilies of the field and they are beautiful flowers. Don’t worry about how you will be clothed because not even Solomon was clothed as well as they. They are here today and gone tomorrow. You have a much greater purpose. You have a much greater calling than a piece of grass; that is why we aren’t to worry.

Now the big reason when you worry, you are spending a bunch of energy, not even worrying, but questioning God. Why is this happening in my life, Lord? Why are you doing this to me? Why do bad things happen to good people? Newsflash, they don’t. When you ask why all the time, you’re spending a lot of mental energy wondering and questioning why.

If you stop questioning why, think how much more energy you will have. Then you can apply it to what you’re meant to do, and that is the main point. So write this down and remember this.

This is the main point in the whole thing that you take away, this is what it should be: spend your energy on what you are meant to do, and when you spend your energy on worrying, you do not have enough energy to go toward what you are meant to do.

Think if a squirrel was out there sitting in the tree worrying and wondering where he was going to find his acorns and where they were going to be buried and if they were going to make it through winter, they would spend so much energy worrying that they wouldn’t have enough acorns to make it through the winter. However, the squirrel says, “I am not worrying about that, I am going and finding acorns. Wow, guess what? I have enough acorns.”

If you spend all your energy worrying, you will not have enough energy to do what you are meant to do. Stop worrying. Stop questioning God [and] start doing what you are meant to do. “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself, each day has enough trouble of its own.” [Matthew 6:34]

So when you ask God to make you more like Him, He is going to do so. Think about what Jesus went through and if something’s happening in your life, bam – you smack your toe on a little leg of a chair, a little bit of suffering, you don’t sit there and say, “Why God would you allow me suffering?” No, [that’s] part of life – suffering. Maybe you should learn from it. Jesus suffered. So will you. Write that down. That is point number two. Jesus suffered [and] so will you.

You pray to God. This is like a very very big thing, you pray to God. You ask to be more like Jesus, then the instant God starts doing something in your life where He is making you more like Jesus, you say, “Why God? Why are you doing this to me?” Don’t do that. Don’t do that. Remember your prayer. You want to be more like Jesus, and trouble may very well help that happen. Think of Paul.

We’re going to go to 2 Corinthians Chapter 12. We are not going to read the whole chapter, but I encourage you to do so. This is a chapter of the Apostle Paul and what he went through when he started getting visions and then he had a thorn in his side that he writes about, and he pleads with God, please take this away from me. God won’t.

We are going to tie this correlation to another person God was making Paul like. You got it, Jesus. Jesus had an instant in his life where He pleaded with God and said, “God please take this away from me. Take this cup away from me, I know what I am supposed to do but I don’t want to do it.”

This time He was so worried and so stressed and anguished that blood was coming out of His body – blood, and water, it wasn’t just dripping with blood, but His sweat glands started secreting blood in the sweat because of the intense worry and stress that His body was going through, and He did this in the Garden of Gethsemane. It’s typically referred to as the Gethsemane Prayer.

There will be a little link up here, eventually, we are going to have a sermon on that because it is a very important point. I don’t have enough time to go over it right now, so I am gonna touch on it.

Essentially, Jesus knew what He was supposed to do. He knew from a little child what His mission was here; He was coming here to die for the sins of the world. When the time came for Him to be betrayed, He knew that the worst moments of anyone’s life were about to come. Think of the flogging alone, and then He was crucified.

Most people don’t have flogging and then crucifixion. They would just get flogged as some kind of punishment [and] that would satisfy whomever was bringing charges against the person, and then they would let him go, and the flogging would probably kill that person, because from the back of your neck all the way down to your knees [and] on your back, would be ripped open, flesh, blood – practically down to the bones.

You would be lucky if one of the bone splinters or the rocks or something in the leather cords, the braided cords, didn’t pierce your spinal cord and rip a vertebra or pull something and leave you paralyzed. If you recovered from the blood loss and you weren’t paralyzed, it was a miracle.

It is just incredible what that alone did to someone’s body and then all of the steps after that. The crucifixion. He knew He was about to go through this, and He said to His Father, “Please don’t make me do it, but nonetheless if it is your will, I will do it. I trust you.” Eventually, we know what happened; He went through the crucifixion and died for you and me. It is huge. It is significant thinking about that. We will never fathom it because it is just so incredible.

Paul had a similar thing. He had these visions, he had a thorn in his side and he said, “God please take this away from me.” But God wouldn’t do it, and later that Paul learns in this weakness, he is strong. In the Lord, because he needs to trust in God that he had a problem – the problem was most likely with sight, with vision. We have Paul in his vision and his thorn as the heading of Chapter 12.

We are going to read [Chapter] 12 Verse 10 specifically, so if you have your Bible we are going to read this Verse, it pretty much is the conclusion of Paul and the thorn in his side. It says, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

So in your weakness, you are strong. Why? In God. Why are you strong? You are strong in trust, you are strong in faith, and that is how we are supposed to be strong. We are asking to be more like Jesus. Jesus suffered. So will you.

Then when God starts doing something in our life, rather than questioning, “Why this is happening to me?” – we are to fully rely on God and be strong in our faith and trust. All right God you have a plan, I trust you whatever reason you have for doing this in my life, I fully trust it. And you know what, I would love not to have to suffer, or I would love not to be sick, or I would love for this person to live, or whatever the case may be.

I would love not to always have a cough, I would love not to have to have glasses, whatever your ailment. I would love not to have diabetes, Lymes disease – whatever it is. Remember you can ask God to take it away from you, but He may not because it could be part of your life’s calling. It could be the thing that is keeping you grounded.

We are going to move on to the next point. Remember Jesus suffered; so will you. That is a big takeaway. Then another thing is you want to be more like Jesus, it’s going to happen – you may have to suffer a little. Jesus suffered; so will you.

Now in your weakness, let your faith be strong in the Lord. Why? Why are we given this weakness or this thorn in our side? Well, Paul realized he was given it so that he wouldn’t become proud. So if you are strong in the Lord then you won’t become proud in yourself. Paul learned that if God told him the reason why he had these ailments, why he had this thorn in his side, then he would become proud.

So instead of questioning God, become proud in Him. Make your faith strong; trust in Him with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. It’s a very popular Verse. If you have some ailment, it may be to keep you humble – to keep you from becoming proud. Yes, you can plead with God to take the pain away, but He may not. It may be part of the thorn in your side, so keep the faith and trust in God.

We’re going to look at one more person in the Bible, and this man with the exception of Jesus probably went through the most suffering that we have seen in the Bible, and his name is Job. We are going to go to Job 13:15.

But first, what did Job do? Well, Job was a great guy, very strong in his faith, so strong in fact that Satan came to God and said, “The only reason he is strong in his faith is because you have blessed him so much. Take all that away and he will not follow you anymore.”

God says, “All right challenge accepted, go ahead,” and Satan completely takes everything from Job except his person. He wipes out all his possessions, his family, his everything – everything goes. Read this book sometime, probably right afterward if you have time. The Book of Job is really an incredible story.

So what happens then is God says, “Yep you are wrong Satan. Job is still following me.” Satan says, “Well that is because you have allowed his person to be fine, you let me inflict his body with painful sores and all kinds of ailments and then he will not follow you. He will recant,” and God says, “Very well, go ahead.”

Then Job is just covered with so much pain and hurt on his body; he can’t even lie down. I mean he wishes he would die, so much so that he said it would have been better for him not to have been born. That is how horrible that instance was in his life – that all the rest of the goodness in his life didn’t even make up for how bad that was.

Yet he continued to trust in God and knew there was some plan. Even his friends came and said, “Something’s wrong, you have to have done something” and Job says, “No I just have to have faith in the Lord.” Through it all, he continued to trust in God.

What happened in the end? You will have to find out. You probably know the story, but basically, he got everything back many times more than he had before. Job 13:15, it says, “Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.” Job was so sure that whatever God was doing in his life wasn’t because of something he had done wrong, so he says, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.”

Just like Paul, in my weakness, I am strong in Christ. Exactly like you are going to be. Whatever ailment you have, though He slay you, continue to hope in Him. You must have faith. Trust in God with all your heart. Jesus suffered; so will you. Job suffered. Paul suffered. Many many many people in the Bible have suffered. They are becoming more like Christ.

You want to be more like Jesus? You’re gonna suffer. End of story. You know we might not be miserable like Job or like the crucifixion Jesus went through, but there is gonna be some stuff in your life that’s not gonna be easy. Whenever it gets tough trust in Him. You’re not going to know why God is doing something, so don’t ask why. Simply trust.

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus thank You for this time together. Thank You for each and every person who is hearing or watching this message. I ask that You would put a blessing of peace and comfort on their lives with whatever is going on in their lives.

There is something that is bothering them, that is weighing heavily on their heart, and Lord, help them to remember that if they spend their energy worrying or questioning why, that they will not have the energy to achieve their calling, that they are meant to do something.

Lord, help them remember that in that time when something happens, that Jesus suffered, so will I; spend my energy on my calling, and that life is gonna happen, that they are probably going to experience some of these sufferings, and that in those sufferings, it’s what is keeping them humble. It’s what is keeping them grounded. It is what is helping them to be strong in their faith rather than in themselves and to fully rely on You, Lord.

So I ask that each and every person out there would remember those things and that if they notice that someone else is suffering, that they would be able to share this with them, and that they would be able to bring them comfort in their sufferings as well and that eventually they would all be able to rejoice in their suffering. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Thank you so much for tuning in today. I really hope this message speaks to you. I hope it provides you some comfort and some relief in the knowledge that life is going to be hard in this world; it is not our world, and we are going to go through things that are not going to be pleasant. But when we go through them, don’t let the world crush you. Rely on God and let Him lift you up, and rejoice in your sufferings. God bless.