Some days God, I think you are out of touch

On Friday, July 14, a family in our church said goodbye to their son who lost his fearless battle with colorectal cancer. Not only was he a son, but a brother, husband, father, nephew, cousin, and friend.

Sixty days later, the same family announced that their son’s father has been diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

Sorry, but announcements like that make me wonder God if you are really in touch with what is going on down on planet Earth.

Friday, September 8, a massive earthquake struck Morocco. To date, media outlets have reported 2,946 deaths from the 6.8 earth shaker.

Two days later on Sunday, September 10, torrential flooding hit the country of Libya. A week later, the government announced that 11,300 people have died from the flooding.

The cancer diagnosis, earthquake, and flood form questions for me God—why do I continue to pray, why do I read the Bible, why do I keep prayer lists, why do I read a devotion everyday, why do I go to church?

I do not know the answers to my questions, but I sense that I’m not alone in my thinking.

Psalm 86 verse six states: “Hear my prayer, Lord;
    listen to my cry for mercy.”

That cry for mercy is heard from people around the world.

God, I’m sorry to tell you this, but a family who lost a son to cancer in July doesn’t find your mercy in the same cancer diagnosis for the father in September.

Psalm 33 verse twenty reads: “We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.”

Where is your shield, your hope, and help for this family, the people of Morocco, and the people of Libya?

Yes, God, I know you are tired of my whining.

Yes, I know I am on a slippery slope in confronting you with these human questions.

I know in a blink a bolt of your lightning can send me to the devil.

But, God here is what you really need to understand, other good people, with good hearts have the same God fearing questions in their souls.

Fortunately for them, those good people and their good hearts are much wiser and not as loony as me. After all these years of writing, you know, I will ask.

And yet, they are quietly asking too.

They like me want to know—are you still in the game, do you still have your touch?

Is your shield too worn, weary, and overwhelmed?

Has your stock of mercy become an empty shelf?

Are your angels flying on fumes?

Yes, I know life is an imperfect journey with struggles on its path.

But maybe, this is the most persistent struggle in life— trying to understand the why in the cancer diagnosis, the earthquake, and the flood.

Even though we’re struggling to understand, and some days we feel like we are hanging by our fingernails, I’m still hanging on to Psalm 62 verse five: “Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.”