February 18, 2021 – Click here to listen
I read an interesting true story this morning. During WW II a young Jewish girl in the Warsaw ghetto of Poland managed to escape prison and hide in a cave. Tragically she died shortly before the Allied Army liberated the prisoners. But before she died, she scratched some powerful words on the wall: “I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when not feeling it. I believe in God even when He is silent.
I try to imagine how this young girl must have felt. She had to be lonely, afraid, exhausted, hungry, and searching for answers to the “Why me?” question. But in the end, as her writing attests, she did not give up on Almighty God and her faith was strong.
God is not at the beck and call of His creatures, nor does He answer on our schedule. I heard a story of a very cranky college professor who flunked so many more students than his peers that he had had developed quite the reputation. Students tried to avoid his Philosophy class at all costs, but some found themselves in there anyway.
One semester he didn’t conduct any tests or papers to be written by his students. Their entire grade was determined by the final exam. So on exam date students saw written on a blackboard the question: “WHY?”
The professor smugly told them to address this issue and they had two hours to work on it. Immediately the class began writing in earnest, save one student. This young man finished the exam in less than a minute. He smiled as he threw his paper on the professors desk and walked out whistling to himself. All the other students thought he was a goner and had just decided to accept a failing grade for the class.
Two days later all of the scores were posted along with the student’s answers to the test spread out on a table. Amazingly the guy who took the test in less than a minute received the highest grade in the class and had answered the test question of “Why?” with one word, “BECAUSE!”
The founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, (CRU), Bill Bright, once said that he was akin to a microbe on the back of a flea on a dog’s back in the Masters palace. In other words who is he to question God? As smart and gifted as this great man was, he realized that his intellect compared to Almighty God was equivalent to a tiny germ. He was a great man of faith and someone we should emulate.
A young man, Elihu, is quoted in the Bible as saying that advanced age is no guarantee of wisdom. The young Jewish girl was wiser than most anyone in the history of the world, she did not give up on life just because she couldn’t see it or feel it or hear it. She believed and trusted in God even in the worst circumstances.
In our country we are in dire circumstance at the moment. But the sun is still shining even if we cannot see it. Love still abounds even if we can’t feel it. And God, though silent, is still watching over us and loving us as none other can love us even when we cannot hear Him. If we cannot see, feel, or hear we can still have faith and that is what our LORD desires.
As for me I don’t have a clue as to “why” a blubbering idiot like Biden is at the helm of the most powerful country in the world. I suppose if someone asks me today, I’ll just tell them “BECAUSE!” and walk away whistling a merry tune.
Isaiah 55:8
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts . . . ”