Where Is God in This?
Scripture Reading — Job 23:1-7
Jesus cried out in a loud voice ... “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46
There were two men who had lost a lot of money.
I felt sorry for one of them, but not for the other. The man I didn’t feel sorry for had applied for a business loan and had provided false information; he had also continued to lie as he borrowed more and more. He used this money to invest in wild and speculative schemes and to live a lavish lifestyle. Eventually his web of lies came apart, he left town, and the bank found that the loan would never be repaid. But the bank was large and this was just one unpaid loan, so the bank was able to continue operating.
The man I felt sorry for was an honest Christian. He had done business with the other man, had been misled, and had been left with payments due him that would never be paid. But unlike the large bank, this honest man was ruined financially. He lost nearly everything he owned. He wondered why God had allowed this to happen to him and his family.
I hope that this man’s pastor and Christian friends were there for him in his time of crisis. Even though there were no easy answers to the question “Where is God in this?” the book of Job and many prayers in the Psalms teach us that we may bring our desperate cries to God. Jesus, who cried his own prayer like that from the cross, will bring our cries to his Father.
Father God, when things are desperate, we can only turn to you, and to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Hear our desperate prayers, we pray, in the name of your Son, Jesus. Amen.
About the author — Fred Bultman
Fred Bultman began a “second career” as a pastor in 1997, after a first career in the banking business. He served as pastor to congregations in the U.S. and Canada. In retirement, he continues to enjoy sharing in the ministry of the churches in and around his home in Fremont, Michigan.
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