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From "Why Me?" to "Why You?"

From Suffering and the Sovereignty of God:

"So often the initial reaction to painful suffering is Why me? Why this? Why now? Why?...[then] He comes for you, in the flesh, in Christ, into suffering, on your behalf. He does not offer advice and perspective from afar; He steps into your significant suffering. He will see you through, and work with you the whole way.... This reality changes the questions that rise up in your heart. That inward-turning "why me?" quiets down, lifts it's eyes, and begins to look around.

You turn outward and new, wonderful questions form. Why You? Why You? Why would You enter this world of evils? Why would You go through loss, weakness, hardship, sorrow, and death? Why would You do this for me, of all people? But You did. You did this for the joy set before You. You did this for love. You did this showing the glory of God in the face of Christ. As that deeper question sinks home, you become joyously sane. The universe is no longer supremely about you. Yet you are not irrelevant. God's story makes you just the right size. Everything counts, but the scale changes to something that makes much more sense. You face hard times. But you have already received something better which can never be taken away. And that better something will continue to work out the whole journey long...

Finally, you are prepared to pose—and to mean—almost unimaginable questions: Why not me? Why not this? Why not now?"

—David Powlison



Posted by on December 9, 2007

Comments (2)

Thank you for posting that quote - what an incredible thought, especially poignant at this time of year. Thanks for sharing it. ;)

I had been hoping to email you, but I noticed that your email address is not listed under the contact information. My name is Megan, and I'm one of three authors of a blog called Bloom! for Christian teen girls - "Encouraging girls on their Journey to Biblical Womanhood." (It's actually a magazine as well). The other two girls and I have been very inspired by both your books (especially I Kissed Dating Good-Bye) and your pastoral teaching, as we've downloaded some messages online. That said, we were wondering if you might be willing to write a few sentences for us to share with our readers - some encouragement, perhaps, on what you see as our generation's greatest strengths, and a thought or two on some weaknesses that we need to particularly guard against or be aware of. We would love your opinion and wisdom on those issues.

We do understand that this request is coming at a very busy time of year, but we would be honored if you might consider writing a short paragraph sometime. If you might be interested, our email address is bloom_mag@yahoo.com.

Thank you very much for your consideration!
In awe of Him,
Megan

Posted by Megan | December 11, 2007 11:49 AM

Love that quote. Helps me "consider Christ". Got the CD from Matt's sermon - listening in my car. Thanks for having him bring that message to us!

Posted by Nick | December 13, 2007 12:37 PM

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