God Why?


“The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men
         Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
         For promis’d joy!”
By Robert Burns
This poem from 1795 is famous for the more modern sounding line “the best laid plans of mouse and mem”.  (Oh how the English language has changed in 200 years.)  I never knew the rest of this poem until I started writing this devotional and thought about the line and looked up where it was from.  The rest of the poem tells the full story, “And leaves us nothing but grief and pain for promised joy!”  I feel this very often when I look back at the plans I had.  My plans left me nothing but grief and pain.  I had great plans, but my plans did not happen as I had planned.  I’m sure that I’m not alone in this.  We all have plans that have crashed and have asked God “why?”
Joseph, the son of Jacob or Israel, likely asked this question several times in his life.  In Genesis 37:1-17 we see Joseph blessed with visions of his future and love of his father.  As we continue to read Genesis 37 and 39 we see Joseph sold by his brothers into slavery, falsely accused, and thrown into prison.  After some time (I’ve wondered how long), he interprets two dreams of Pharaoh's cupbearer and baker.  The dreams come to pass.  Joseph had asked the cupbearer, who was freed, to bring up his state to Pharaoh.  The cupbearer forgot.  More time passes and Joseph remains in prison.  He is eventually freed and made 2nd command of Egypt, but I have asked how long was he in prison after he interpreted the dreams?  How many times did he ask, “God, why?”  He was given his answer after seven years of ruling Egypt.  He saves all of the southern Mediterranean areas from starvation, including his own family, and his brothers that had sold him into slavery.
Joseph was never told the answer to the question “why”.  I propose that he was asking the wrong question.  Asking why is self-focused.  When we ask why, we are actually asking, “Why me?”  or “Why am I going through this?”  These questions are self-focused.  God is concerned with every detail of our lives.  God was also concerned with the details of Joseph’s life and he allowed him to be sold into slavery and thrown into prison.  We can also see that God knew what he was doing with Joseph to save hundreds of thousands.  We know the end of Joseph’s story.  Joseph didn’t.  God knows the end of our story.  We don’t.  When we face the “nought but grief an’ pain, for promis’d joy” of our plans, we should not ask, “Why me?”  We should change our question to “To what end?”  God is at work in your life and through your life.  Your life and pain are not for naught.
  1. What are you asking God, “Why me?”
  2. Can you change your question to “To what end?”

--Zine Smith

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