During one particularly challenging time in my life I was able to sit with a couple of very good and trusted friends who were aware of my situation. They allowed me to vent my frustrations with the situation and express my helplessness that came with the idea that the issues were not totally under my control. After once again asking the question of, "why is this happening?" and finding a moment to pause, these dear friends gave a response that has since, caused me great moments to ponder. "Jason," one said. "You have to realize that these things are happening to you only because God has allowed them to." Of course in the moment that is not what I wanted to hear and I didn't take much time to really think about this. Since that time, and even more recently, I have had a chance to ponder upon this even more.
The answer that has always been there, the one that I really don't like to hear, is the fact that the answer to "why" is because He is allowing it to. Now if I truly believe in a loving God then I have to ask myself what would be the purpose of having these experiences? The answer is simple. He loves me and wants me to grow. While this doesn't necessarily help limit the amounts of challenges I may face, it can affect the way I approach them. If I am able to stop and truly recognize that these challenges come only because He allows them to come, then I start asking a different question. I no longer ask, "Why?" Instead I begin to ask, "What?" What is it that I can gain from this challenge? What is the lesson that He wants me to learn? What is it that I can do to make sure I'm following what He wants me to? Asking these questions can lead me to take steps to find the answers which are surely available to me in this life.
When looking at the great example in our savior, Jesus Christ, we can actually see this in action. During the most horrible and challenging time in His life, Christ knew the answer to the question of "why?" As he knelt in the garden of Gethsemane and willingly took on the sins of the entire world He fully understood why He was being asked to do this. And here lies the key to dealing with challenges. At this point, He still asked his Father in Heaven if there was any other way it. He didn't want to go through this horrible experience. He didn't want to experience the vast suffering that would be found throughout the ages.
He didn't want to experience the sorrow, pain and anguish that is found in such abundance in our world today. And yet, He still made the statement, "Not my will, but thine." Christ had the chance at any time to call upon legions of angels to rescue Him, to prevent these challenges from happening. As he was nailed upon the cross and hung in pain He could have called again to have angels attend to Him. During this time, God could have smitten every single one of the Roman's that were torturing His son. He could have stopped all of this. However, He didn't. He allowed these things to happen. Why? Because He loves us. So then we ask what did Christ have to learn from this? In order for Jesus to be an advocate for us to the Father, He HAD to fully understand everything. So what did Jesus have to learn? He had to learn what it was like to be a sinner. And God couldn't provide this experience for Christ. He had to let him learn it on his own.
As I continue to go through my life, there is no doubt that I will continue to face challenges. I have no doubt that I will continue to struggle with asking "why?" as I am faced with them. I am working at being better with not spending too much time on that question as I already know the answer. It's just not the answer I may want to hear at the moment. Instead, I hope that in the future, I can begin to ask the question "what?" and focus on learning and improving myself in the way that my loving Father in Heaven wants for me. That I can begin to emulate the great example of my Savior and recognize the reason things happen is because, "Not my will, but thine be done."
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