"Why Me Lord?" - Simply Elliott

What do you do when someone shuns you? When you’re not invited, not included, whatever it may be. When you are left out, taken for granted, under appreciated, or simply forgotten. Especially when it’s something you thought you should be included in. How are you supposed to respond to that?

Do we ignore it? Brush it aside as if nothing happened? Pretending to show no emotional response to the situation. Hardly. Instead then, do we rant and rave to the person who hurt us? Shouting our emotions in anger that borders hatred. Demanding that we deserve it. Saying “Do you not know who I am? Do you not remember what I have done for you?” Bending the relationship to the brink, inevitably snapping the bond in half with our words because we feel slighted. Far from it. How then, are we to respond to such situations?

Currently, the pastor at the contemporary service we have recently begun to attend is going through a series of how to respond in situations that are, well, just plain unfair. Sunday he gave the example of Job and his abundance of earthly treasures. Of how he was a God fearing man, good to his very core. Praising the Father for all that he had, and teaching his children in the ways of the Lord. He told of how Job had everything physically and spiritually. And then in an instant, it was gone. Everything was gone. But most importantly, he spoke of Job’s response to his sudden lacking in this life.

Then Job arose and tore his cloak and cut off his hair. He fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb and naked shall I go back there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD!” In all this Job did not sin nor did he charge God with wrong.

-Job 1:20-22

He did what? He worshiped? All that he held dear in this world was stripped away, and he worshiped. Wow. Now the story of Job is an exaggerated version of what we tend to face on a daily basis, yet the reaction should be no different. Job did not seek out those who had wronged him to retaliate with revenge or a litany of hate. Though strangers, Job did not curse those who had carried out such deeds against him with a flash of his tongue. No ill begotten words sprang from his mouth against his enemies even in a moments weakness. Yet, how often do well spew harsh remarks at those closest to us when we sense we have been disregarded in one way or another even over something as silly as not being invited to dinner?

How often do we, and sadly those around us, automatically assume that if evil has come, that our sin must have caused it. That sickness is punishment, brokenness earned, and even death deserved. We attribute the fault to ourselves and beat ourselves up until we are defeated. Pleading guilty to a crime we did not commit to somehow gain understanding of what just happened. Job’s friends insisted that he clearly must have done something to justify such destruction. That it was his sin that had caused this multitude of sorrows that plagued him. Yet Job refuses to admit to something he has not done. He refuses to say that he deserved to experience such devastation. He choses instead to lament. To cry out in distress and ask “Why me?!” To exclaim that he didn’t deserve it. To express his pain, his grief, his inexplicable sadness. And to declare the sovereignty of the Lord despite his lack of understanding for the reasoning behind the events. As the pastor continued, he shared the following definition of lament:

“Lament”: to speak ones frustrations, anger, and pain to God without abandoning one’s faith in God.

Such simplistic elegance in those words. To speak, to verbalize, the turmoil within. To let it free and deny harboring hatred in our hearts. And to remain faithful to our King. Bad things happen to good people. For reasons we will never fully be able to comprehend in this lifetime. And well, it sucks. But as with anything, it’s our response to those events that shape us. That mold us closer to becoming like the image of Christ. Or cause us to break. Shattering into a million tiny pieces waiting to be picked up and molded into something new by the first thing that promises wholeness again.

Thinking back to our original question of being left out, we must reflect of our own actions. How often, unlike Job, have we failed to invite the Lord not just into our hearts, but to occupy our lives? And how does he react? He loves. He continually pours out His love and mercy over us, covering us with His grace despite our inherent brokenness and plethora of shortcomings. Does our exclusion not bother Him? Doe is not cause Him pain? Certainly not in the sense we can fathom, but indeed it breaks His heart. To be neglected by His children whom He has given everything for. He mourns, certainly He mourns. But he continues to love. And to patiently open his arms to relationship with his depraved people in the deepest of their struggles.

Whether intentional or not, our actions as people effect those around us. And when we are the ones effected by those actions, we are expected to mourn. To pour our emotion in prayer and tears to the Lord. To let our spouse or best friend hold us as we grieve. To cry out in the unfairness and confusion. But to continue to love. To forgive, knowing that forgiveness does not negate the pain, but allows for healing to begin as we do it. To continue to praise the Lord, who both gives and takes away. To bear witness to the forgiveness and mercy of Christ and reflect His glory in our response to tragedy; whether big or small.

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

-Matthew 5:44-48

It almost seems more difficult to live this out when your “enemies” are not so clear cut. The time it’s most difficult to love is when it’s someone so close to you that simply didn’t show it. When the love we speak of in this verse is an action, and not simply a verb to describe the emotions in one’s heart.

When we are left out of something we feel we should be included in. When we are cut off from a family member, as though we were the ones who chose to leave. When the diagnosis is from out of nowhere. When a friendship is set aside. When a child is lost. A promotion passed over to someone else. A job denied. Car crashes. Tornados. Shootings. The list will never end.

If we choose to spend our days dwelling on our fabled entitlement, clinging to the narcissistic view that we are solely what this life is all about, we will miss the most precious opportunities to experience His goodness and blessings. He will use these tragedies for His glory. He will never leave us during our time of sorrow. Though we may not feel His presence, we can scarcely begin to understand why, or ever comprehend how our reactions can alter another’s heart, we must continue to trust in His sovereignty.

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

-Romans 5:4-5