Why All This Trouble Lord?

“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us,why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” Judges 6:13 (NIV)

I know how Gideon must have felt. I had ‘one of those days’ today. My day began with removing a bandage that tore my skin creating a new wound. Next I called the insurance company and found out if I had only driven an hour away to see the doctor instead of seeing her in the office in my town my doctor bill would have been covered. Yes, same doctor, same procedure, but because I saw her in her office five minutes away instead of in her office an hour away they would not cover my doctor bill. That kind of logic is just about enough to fry your brain.

But then my new cell phone came, and that cheered me up until I found it was locked up and I couldn’t unlock it. So next I go to get my allergy shots, but discover my truck’s brakes aren’t working properly, indeed, they aren’t working at all. The only thing good about that is I didn’t run into anyone.

   Even tonight, as I prepared to go to bed, picking up my mp3 player to listen to some music to relax before going to sleep I find that it too has locked up on me. I finally decided to forget it and sit down to write this devotion.

  Why do crazy things continually happen to Christians? Aren’t we given special protection and blessings? I do believe we are, but some days I wonder if the Lord is looking to see how much of a sense of humor we have. Mine isn’t too good right now.

   “Stuff Happens”, “It is what it is”, “Bad things happen to good people”. Cliches don’t help much, even if they are true. I think we need to be honest about how we feel and not try to paste on a smile when we are feeling frustrated. This is why I love the Psalms, they are filled with honesty, honest feelings from people feeling frustrated, scared, discouraged, even angry about life.

 I hope you are having a better day than I did. I hope to have a better day tomorrow. It is hope for better things that keep us from “losing it”.

Dear Lord, Why do crazy things happen to us? Help us in our difficult times and crazy days. Amen.

Karlton Douglas

Copyright 2016