The Obsession of 'Figuring It Out'

Are we in a recession, or is this an economic depression? Does it matter?

Ask someone who is out of work if it matters!

I know many people who are struggling. Not long ago a friend of mine wrote that he knew where he was going in the next life, but that he couldn't figure out this life. Times are tough.

Good, capable people with normally very marketable skills are frustrated by rejection after rejection.

The temptation is to ask, "Why me? What have I done to deserve this?"

Another friend of mine just had a death in her family. The person was very young.

The mind tries to get a grasp of the situation, but it turns out to be an unsolvable puzzle. The mind thinks that if it could just figure out 'why' that somehow the situation could be satisfactory in some way. But the person is still gone, and that is unsatisfactory! And the grief goads the mind back to trying to figure it out. The mind is caught in an endless, painful loop.

Again, the temptation to ask, "Why?"

I was trimming the trees in my back yard. That's what the picture is, above. I was thinking about when Jesus said,

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every [branch] that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." (John 15:1,2)

He was talking about a process in our lives, not a specific event in time.

I looked at the perfectly good branches I had cut from the trees, that were now laying on the ground. Nothing had been wrong with them. But according to my purpose (landscaping), they had to be cut.

The book of Job in the Bible deals with this question. Why does something bad happen to good people? Is it because of a failing on our part? Isn't God supposed to take care of us? Why does God let these things happen?

In one day Job lost all his possessions, lost his children, too. When he thought it couldn't get any worse, he broke out in painful boils. Know what Job said?

"And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21)

"Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" (Job 2:9,10)

His closest friends did not desert him, but they didn't know how to comfort or console him. They tried to counsel him, to get Job to see that somehow he was less than upright. They thought he must be in denial about some sort of dishonesty or moral flaw. Try as he might, Job could think of no reason for these things to happen to him.

Finally Job gets to hear from God:

"Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who [is] this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest?" (Job 38)

'Whirlwind' is probably an accurate way to describe the drama of Job's life!

I highly recommend reading all of God's answer in Job 38, indeed, read the whole book of Job!

I can anticipate what you might ask-- "So, what's the answer?"

The answer is-- There IS NO ANSWER. More precisely, there is no answer that would satisfy the mind, but the mind will go crazy looking for it anyways.

Isn't it our inflated ego that tries to convince us that we deserve answers to everything?