“Why do we have to do this?”
“When are we ever going to use this in real life?
“What is the point in this?”
Don’t you just love it when you introduce a new concept and this is how your students respond? It can be frustrating because we know why they need to learn the material – and it goes beyond just taking an end of the unit test! We know that this will help them continue to advance academically, improve their cognitive abilities, develop perseverance, and open up future doors of opportunity!
But most of our students don’t see that when they are stuck facing a looming difficulty.
We try to explain the reasoning behind it, but we are easily tuned out. Because, well…honestly, it doesn’t really matter to that student why he has to do this – he just wants to not do it. Yet, he has to trust that the teacher knows what is coming and is trying to prepare him for it. He has to buckle down and learn, despite his feelings about the subject matter.
So often I find myself asking similar questions when God brings difficulties into my life.
God, why do I have to go through this? What is the point here?
And, like my students, many times I mentally know the answer to those questions . Oh, I can quote Romans 8:28-29…I can tell you that everything is working out for my good & God’s glory, but sometimes, to be honest….I just want to tune it out and kick and scream while God takes me through tough times. Like my students, it’s not so much the why as the I just really don’t want to do this. There has to be another way to accomplish this goal.
When you feel stuck asking “why?” to whatever you may be going through, it’s important to remember a few truths about God.
I. God cares about your difficulties
For me, I don’t struggle with the doctrine of God’s sovereignty as much as I struggle with His love. Even typing that, I am slammed by the impact of that statement – I struggle with trusting God’s love. My God who loved me so much that He gave up His very own Son to die for me…I question His love. What more do I demand of Him to prove His love for me? Is that not enough to stop my doubts right there? In his book, Trusting God Even When Life Hurts (which I highly recommend!), Jerry Bridges reminds us that “if God loved me enough to give His Son to die for me when I was His enemy, surely He loves me enough to care for me now that I am His child.” (emphasis added). God didn’t shower His abundant love on you at the Cross only to forget about you once you joined His family!
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)
Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:9-11)
I find that I am like the petulant child who accuses his mother of not loving him because she won’t give him what he wants. Anyone on the outside can see the great sacrificial love that mother has for her son – yet, when he doesn’t get what he wants, he assumes it is because she doesn’t love him – he doesn’t jump to the assumption that she may say “no” out of consideration for his safety or health. That child is coming to a conclusion that is dependent on his feelings of disappointment instead of the objective truth of his mother’s love for him. When you struggle to feel that God loves you, you have to choose to trust His love. Just like that child, don’t make the mistake of letting your feelings bring you to an incorrect conclusion or assumption – choose to look at the objective facts of all that God has done to show His love for you and hold fast to that. The love that God has for His Son is the same love that He has towards us!
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. (John 15:9)
God’s love to us cannot fail any more than His love to Christ can fail. (Jerry Bridges)
God’s love is supremely displayed at the Cross, but it is continuously shown through each day of my life. Because He loves me, He closely knows the pain or disappointment I feel (Ps. 56:8).
I love this article that points out the significance of Jesus weeping at the death of Lazarus. Christ knew what was going to happen -He knew that in just a short time, He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead and all would be well! Yet, He saw the pain & sorrow of Mary & Martha, and He felt that pain & sorrow. He knows pain and suffering on a far deeper level than any of us will ever know – if anyone had the “right” to doubt God’s love it would be Christ the night before His crucifixion. But Christ knew God’s love even amidst the pain & suffering – and that allows for Him to be our sympathetic High Priest (Hebrews 4:15).
It’s okay to feel sorrow or disappointment in life – but don’t let those emotions dictate your conclusions on the character of God. Trust in the absolute Truth of God’s character revealed in His Word to show you who your God is.
2. God knows the end of your story
As teachers, we know the long term goals for our students. In a much deeper and more personalized way, God knows exactly how our story is going to turn out. Yet it is no mere goal to strive for – He already knows exactly what’s going to happen and how it will happen! And while we as teachers struggle to take one curriculum and differentiate it for the 20-30 students in our care to help them reach our end goals, God has scripted the curriculum for my life, and it is completely personalized. He doesn’t just look at the end goal for all of His children- our good & His glory, and then proceed to give each one of us the exact same assignments & tests to get us to that point. So my story may not look like your story – but the end goal is the same for us both.
It is also comforting to remember that God is not just making this up as He goes along, hoping that it will eventually reach His desired end for me. That job loss or medical diagnosis is not a curveball that was thrown in, and now He has to figure out how to incorporate it into His ultimate plan. He is no stressed out teacher just trying to keep His head above water, hoping that the jumbled craziness of the year will result in students who have learned what they were supposed to learn. He has lovingly planned out each day and each difficulty in my life. And though I don’t understand because I can’t see the end of my story – He already knows the end and each step along the way. I need to stop fighting for control of the wheel and choose to trust in His control. His ways are so beyond what we can even comprehend!
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Is. 55:9).
So whenever you are begging God for the “why” of what He is doing, realize that He does love you, He does know what He is doing…even if you can’t see how it could possibly be for His good and your glory, choose to trust in His loving and sovereign directing of your life.