Why, God?
“What did I do to deserve this?”
“How is this happening?”
“Why, God”
These are questions that many people ask themselves. It’s likely you have, too. Maybe it came at a time of devastating loss or diagnosis, or some painful situation out of your control.
Joseph’s Story
There are a lot of people in the Bible who faced difficulties and hardships and had the same question, too.
Let’s look at Joseph’s story, recorded in the book of Genesis in the Bible, to understand what God’s answer may be.
We read Joseph's story in Genesis 37-50. He had a lot of hard knocks in his life, all starting with something he had no control over: favoritism. His dad, Jacob, gave Joseph a beautiful coat, something much nicer than what his brothers got, causing them to hate him. Joseph didn’t ask for that coat or the subsequent hate and dysfunction, but that’s what he got.
Then came the low moments he did help create: pride and oversharing. Joseph had dreams from God, but he lacked discernment. He basically told his brothers, "Hey guys, someday you’re all going to bow down to me!" Not a great move.
His brothers responded by throwing him into a pit and selling him into slavery. From there, it was one hit after another. He was falsely accused and thrown into a literal prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
Joseph sat in that prison for over eleven years. Genesis 39:20-21 says: “But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.”
Now, if you were in the situation, you might be praying something like this: Get me out, God! I don’t want to be here. Show your “favor” to someone else… I don’t want your “kindness” in prison.
Maybe you’ve felt that exact thing before. You’re in a season of depression or loss, and people tell you "God is with you," and you just want to scream? You want to get out, not have a companion in this low season.
Learning to lament
When we’re in the metaphorical jail of our lives, we usually have two reactions.
One, we whine, sulk, and complain. We decide life is unfair and we’re done. Or we try to exit it ourselves. We attempt to dig, claw, or "positive-think" our way out.
Is there a better way? Joseph’s story shows us a third way. Even in the darkness of that prison, he didn’t check out but stayed close to the Lord.
This is where lament comes in. Lament is something we see frequently in the Bible as a sacred space to grieve and mourn the low moments in our lives and others. It’s allowing deep emotion of sorrow, pain, and grief rise up in us as we express it to the Lord.
As we lament in the presence of God, we release our worries and anxieties to Him so that He can wipe away the tears in our eyes and bring gracious acts of comfort and understanding.
Simply put, lament helps us remember that God is with us. Psalm 23:4 says it perfectly: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me.”
So instead of pretending we aren’t suffering and putting on a happy face or making our pain and grief our entire identity, we can choose a third way, like Joseph did: bringing our pain and sorrow to the Lord and staying close to Him in it. Because He will meet you there.
We are with you in this season, too. Reach out to us and we would love to pray for you.
