Why Not Me?

A friend once heard me mutter, “Why me?” and she asked, “Why not you?” That led to some serious reflection on my part. I began to wonder, “Why not me? Why should I be exempt me from the “interruptions” of life that is common to everyone? What makes me so special to think I should be excused or immune from life’s disruptions, discomforts, or tragedies?” This also led me to think, if our LORD was the target of the world’s assault (Hebrews 4:15), am I better or greater than He was to be spared from any or all of life’s difficulties? Just who do I think I am? What a sobering thought.

I think that the main reason why we are “inconvenienced” or suffer is so that we will be challenged to know God. Isaiah said, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed Him not” (Isaiah 53:3-4a).

I know that this passage of Scripture is a prophecy about Jesus, but I also think that this is a commentary on God. I don’t think that God needs a body to feel hurt. In fact, some say that mental and emotional pain sometimes leaves the deepest and the greatest scars.

Early in Scripture, I see a God that hurts. When Adam hid and God asked him, “Who told you that you were naked” (Genesis 3:11), I hear great disappointment in God’s words. God’s pain might not be obvious to some in this passage of Scripture, but a few chapters later, the Bible tells us that God was grieved as he looked at the wickedness of man (Genesis 6:6).

One of the books of the Bible that speaks powerfully to me about the pain that God feels is the book of Hosea. Over and over again God reveals His heartache through His prophet, Hosea.

The Scripture also says that the Lamb (Jesus) was slain from the formation of the world (Revelation 13:8). The Scriptures also tell us that God lives in all time zones (Isaiah 57:15). What this says to me is that even though God is eternal and “invincible,” emotions—in this case pain, is a part of the nature or character of God.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Jesus didn’t come to earth in a human body so that He could understand, experience, or feel what we go through. I think that Jesus came to earth so that we could see and know the face of God as He suffers.

It is an amazing thought that God would put up and suffer for me. It is also beyond me why anyone who has “seen” the anguished face of Jesus would continue to hurt Him. Maybe it’s because we haven’t seen Him. Maybe that’s why we continue to cry out, “Why me” stemming from an arrogant heart instead of a humble one…