Day 208 - If God Is Good, Why . . . ?

365 daily emails to help you through the grieving process Grief support groups: Click here to find a GriefShare group near you. If you would like to find a group for a friend or relative, try our Search Page. Want to read ahead or resend a previous daily email? Click Here If God Is Good, Why … ? Day 208 Grief often brings with it theological questions. Why did God allow this or cause this to happen? Why now? Why to this person? Moral issues often arise out of the cauldron of emotions in grief. A sense of outrage is embedded in the grieving process, especially when children and good people die, sometimes creating an inner demand for justice. Dr. Ray Pritchard says, "There are questions for which answers are hidden in the mind and heart of a loving God. All we can say is this: God has so designed the moral universe that, as the Bible says, the rain falls on the just and the unjust. "We live in a fallen world, a world that's distorted by sin, and ever since sin entered the human race in the Garden of Eden there has been sin, sickness, pain, suffering, and death. So I don't think anyone will be able to know why one child gets cancer, why one marriage breaks up, why one person loses his job and another one is promoted. Sometimes we'll come up with superficial answers, but truly I've discovered that the deeper and more heartrending the question, the harder it is to come up with an answer on a human level." While God does not always give answers to your questions, He always gives Himself. You can focus your attention instead on the faithfulness of God, His comfort, and His promise to work all things together for good (Romans 8:28). You can trust Him when you do not have all the answers. "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45). Lord God, even though I do not understand why, I know I don't need these answers in order to move on. Your ways and Your thoughts are truly higher than mine. Amen. Grieving with Hope This GriefShare-based book contains short, topical chapters addressing issues that grieving people face but are often hesitant to mention to others; it gently guides people to determine whether they're grieving in a way that leads to hope and ultimate healing. Look for Grieving with Hope by Samuel Hodges and Kathy Leonard at a local or online bookstore or at griefshare.org/hope. If you would like to recommend these daily emails to a friend, please click here and choose one of the options under Share. For more information about GriefShare, including how to sign up for these daily emails, please click here. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2003-2013 by The Church Initiative, Inc., All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without explicit permission in writing from Church Initiative. You subscribed to this daily email through www.griefshare.org. We value your privacy! We will never give, sell, rent, or otherwise share your email or personal information with any other organization — EVER. To remove this email address from further mailings Click Here while connected to the internet. If you have any problems or concerns, please contact dailyemailsupport@griefshare.org. GriefShare 250 S. Allen Rd. Wake Forest, NC 27587 (800) 395-5755