God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. John 4:23 ESV
When unexpected and horrible things happen in life, we instantly ask, “Why?”
It was a windy day when a young family went off for a hike in the woods where they were camping. The two-year-old got fussy, so Dad turned back with the little one. Mom and the five-year-old son decided to finish the hike. Out of nowhere, the winds brought a huge tree crashing down, scraping the boy on the face but pinning the mother underneath. Seeing his mom going in and out of consciousness, the little boy ran frantically back down the trail to get help! Mom was airlifted to a trauma center, still alive.
Why did this random and horrible thing happen? If you’re a person of faith—and the dad in this story is a pastor–where do you go with your questions and senseless grief?
Jesus said that “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth,” (John 4:23) so there’s no reason to fake it with God when hard feelings arise. That’s why the Bible has over 60 songs that are called laments—they’re honest expressions of sorrow to God. And there’s an entire book in the Bible about a man named Job who innocently suffered loss of everything he had including his family and his health. In the Psalms and in the book of Job, people turned to God with hard questions and God welcomed them. Psalm 22 opens with: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help?” (Psalm 22:1).
God invites us to turn to Him, rather than away, when we are crushed with sorrow, anger or confusion. Scripture promises, “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you,” (James 4:8a).
