Ever Wonder Why: Why Did God Let it Happen?

James Harrelson (0:01)

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Thank you for joining us today at Real Life Church. So happy to have you join us today. And my name is James Harrelson. And just very humbled and thankful for the opportunity that Pastor Jason has given me today to kick off a new sermon series. We're kicking off a new series today called Ever Wonder Why. And over the next four weeks, we'll go over some of those hard-hitting questions that we all have in life, whether it's why did God let this happen? Why is obedience so hard? How could God use someone like me? We're going to be tackling all of those questions this month. And I highly encourage you just to lean in. I truly believe that God's going to set people free with this sermon series. And so it's going to be great to go through all of that. You know, when I think about questions, I think about all of the questions that my two boys ask me all the time. That was one of the first things that I noticed when I first became a parent, was just the amount of questions that they throw your way. I mean, it's frequent and it's constant. It starts off real simple like, Dad, why is the sky blue? Why do dogs bark? Why do cats meow? And as they get older and older, the questions become more intricate, more developed. For my oldest son, Sawyer, he always is really good at observing things. So like we were on the interstate, we were on I-75, and he asked me, Dad, why are there always a whole lot of workers on this road?

I was like, that's a good question. And he's like, well, when are they going to be done working? And I was like, never, never. It's just going to keep going.

My youngest son, Lucas, he's a lot more bold with his questions. Like he's not afraid to just ask for the world. Like we'd be driving, and my four-year-old Lucas will go, Dad, can I drive the car? And I was like, no. And then he'll ask me, why? And then at that point, I'll go, because I said so. There you go. And it's funny just how constant they are with the questions. And one of the things that I've noticed though about the questions is that as they get older, not only are the questions getting more deep, more intricate, but then they also get more serious as well. Then they start asking you like heavy stuff. Like, Dad, why are there bad guys in the world? Or, Dad, why do people sometimes hurt? You know, lately in the last two years, a big question that I've gotten from both of them is, Dad, why did my granddad have to go to heaven? And, you know, every time they ask me that question, I completely get it. I completely understand. Because I ask God that same question about my dad. He passed away two years ago in his 60s. It was a heart attack overnight. And I have found myself asking God that question. God, why did you let that happen? You know, why couldn't he just live this long life and see his grandkids grow? You know, God, why couldn't he live like, you know, those old people that like live to be 100, and they like, they do a news story on them, and like their diet is terrible? And like, the reporter is like, what's your secret to live into 100? And then like, the old lady is like, I drink soda pop every single morning.

Like, God, why couldn't it be like that? Why couldn't he just be like living constantly? And you know, the interesting thing is like, everyone in this room, we've all had those kinds of questions. God, why did this happen to me? God, why did I lose that job? God, why did that divorce happen? God, why did I lose that person?

And you know, one of the great things about our Heavenly Father is that when we ask him those questions, he doesn't judge us. He doesn't just say, well, that's a dumb question. Just as my kids, they ask me that question, and I don't push them away, because I understand the question. What we're going to do here today is we're going to tackle the question of why did God let it happen? And I think it's important to point out that scripture shows us faithful people can be honest about the weight of their suffering. One of the people that we're going to look at today is Paul. Paul had this amazing mission track record of living for Jesus and winning over souls for Jesus. But a lot of times, what we tend to overlook is we tend to overlook the suffering component in that mission work. We tend to overlook just how day in and day out he faced death right in the face. And if you have your Bibles today, we're going to turn to 2 Corinthians. We're going to look at 2 Corinthians, Chapter 1 We'll start here in verse 8, and this is where we're really going to kick things off. Paul writes, for we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. That wording really sticks out to me.