God, why did this happen to me?

As Christians, when things go wrong in life we often begin to ask God why? Why are things going wrong? Why did this or that happen to me? But in my experience the answer to that question is quite simple. It seems that there is always one of two answers:


Reason #1: You're doing something wrong

or

Reason #2: You're doing something right

This may sound a bit funny, but it actually goes along with my last two posts God: Our Last Resort and Learning to Fly Like an Eagle. As I talked about in the former of those two posts; when we stop following God's plan for our lives, or stop seeking after God, we take ourselves out of God's protection and make ourselves vulnerable to attacks from the enemy. In other words, things start going wrong because we are doing something wrong.

Understanding this can lead us to the impression that whenever something goes wrong, it's our fault. But this is not true. As I mentioned in the latter post, when we follow God and allow Him to teach us, sometimes there are growing pains. That's not to mention that the devil wants to attack us even more when we are close to God (i.e Job). For that reason, things can go wrong because we are doing something right.

So that begs the question, how do we know which one it is? Well the key question is, have you made any effort to follow God recently? Because that is all God really ask of us, is to put in effort. When we try, God will then direct us in the way He wants to go (as long as we are willing to be directed). So in this case it probably means you are being attacked, because you are doing something right. If you ask yourself that question and realize that you have been complacent in following God, well then you already have your answer.

The nice thing about this though, is that it really doesn't matter what the answer is, because your response should be the same either way. When things go wrong in your life, let that bad experience drive you into the presence of God. Whether it is because you are doing something right, or you are doing something wrong, this needs to be your response. If we respond in this way He will be sure to lead us to our next step!