{"id":1381,"date":"2020-07-28T04:22:13","date_gmt":"2020-07-28T11:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381"},"modified":"2020-07-28T04:25:11","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T11:25:11","slug":"asking-god-why-is-a-normal-response-to-heartbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381","title":{"rendered":"Have You Ever Asked God Why?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Why, God\u2026why did you let this happen? You could have done something! Why didn\u2019t you?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heartbreak sends us to our knees, begging God for answers. If only we understood his purpose in heartbreak\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have you been there, devastated by calamity, crying out for an explanation? Well-meaning comforters sometimes pour on the guilt, saying we shouldn\u2019t ask why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Asking why actually puts us in good company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moses said, \u201cO Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all\u201d (Exodus 5:22b-23).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joshua said, \u201cAh, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of Jordan!\u201d(Joshua 7:7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gideon, when the angel of the Lord appeared to him assuring him the Lord was with him, said, \u201cif the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, \u2018Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?\u2019 But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian\u201d (Judges 6:12-13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Job in his anguish said, \u201cIf I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you? Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins?\u201d (Job 7:20-21a). \u201cWhy then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me. If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!\u201d (Job 10:18-19).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus on the cross cried out, \u201cMy God, my God, why have you forsaken me?\u201d (Matthew 27:46).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes\u2026asking why puts us in good company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Asking why is a normal response to heartbreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve come to this conclusion: asking why is not a problem as long as we\u2019re content without an explanation and willing to leave the matter in God\u2019s almighty hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href='https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwp.me%2Fp9m6jT-mh&#038;text=Asking%20God%20why%20is%20not%20a%20problem%20as%20long%20as%20we%E2%80%99re%20content%20without%20an%20explanation%20and%20willing%20to%20leave%20the%20matter%20in%20his%20almighty%20hands..&#038;via=DianneBarker12&#038;related=DianneBarker12' target='_blank'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Asking God why is not a problem as long as we\u2019re content without an explanation and willing to leave the matter in his almighty hands.. <\/a><\/span><a href='https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwp.me%2Fp9m6jT-mh&#038;text=Asking%20God%20why%20is%20not%20a%20problem%20as%20long%20as%20we%E2%80%99re%20content%20without%20an%20explanation%20and%20willing%20to%20leave%20the%20matter%20in%20his%20almighty%20hands..&#038;via=DianneBarker12&#038;related=DianneBarker12' target='_blank' class='bctt-ctt-btn'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n<p>Life\u2019s big question: why does God allow evil? No one has a satisfactory answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his book <em>The Journey<\/em>, Billy Graham wrote, \u201c\u2026I don\u2019t fully have the answer. I have had to accept by faith that even in the face of great evil, God is still sovereign, and He is still loving and merciful and compassionate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s our challenge in heartbreak: believing God is loving, merciful, and compassionate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We know he is because he said so. \u201cThe Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin\u201d (see Exodus 34:6-7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our circumstances do not alter God\u2019s character. He is still full of love, mercy, and compassion\u2014enough to carry us through heartbreak, although he may never answer our <em>whys<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href='https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwp.me%2Fp9m6jT-mh&#038;text=Our%20circumstances%20do%20not%20alter%20God%E2%80%99s%20character.%20He%20is%20still%20full%20of%20love%2C%20mercy%2C%20and%20compassion%E2%80%94enough%20to%20carry%20us%20through%20heartbreak%2C%20although%20he%20may%20never%20answer%20our%20whys.&#038;via=DianneBarker12&#038;related=DianneBarker12' target='_blank'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Our circumstances do not alter God\u2019s character. He is still full of love, mercy, and compassion\u2014enough to carry us through heartbreak, although he may never answer our whys. <\/a><\/span><a href='https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwp.me%2Fp9m6jT-mh&#038;text=Our%20circumstances%20do%20not%20alter%20God%E2%80%99s%20character.%20He%20is%20still%20full%20of%20love%2C%20mercy%2C%20and%20compassion%E2%80%94enough%20to%20carry%20us%20through%20heartbreak%2C%20although%20he%20may%20never%20answer%20our%20whys.&#038;via=DianneBarker12&#038;related=DianneBarker12' target='_blank' class='bctt-ctt-btn'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n<p>Living the maximum life!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have you asked God why? I\u2019d appreciate your leaving a comment\u2014and please share this with friends why are asking why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a9 Dianne Barker 2018 (reprinted)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why, God\u2026why did you let this happen? You could have done something! Why didn\u2019t you? Heartbreak sends us to our knees, begging God for answers. If only we understood his purpose in heartbreak\u2026 Have you been there, devastated by calamity, crying out for an explanation? Well-meaning comforters sometimes pour on the guilt, saying we shouldn\u2019t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,405,566,224,261,438,113,325],"class_list":["post-1381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-dianne-barker","tag-gideon","tag-have-you-ever-asked-god-why","tag-job","tag-joshua","tag-living-the-maximum-life","tag-moses","tag-sovereignty-of-god"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.7.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Have You Ever Asked God Why? - Dianne Barker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Asking God why is a normal response to heartbreat. It&#039;s not a problem as long as we&#039;re content to leave the matter in his almighty hands.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Have You Ever Asked God Why? - Dianne Barker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Asking God why is a normal response to heartbreat. It&#039;s not a problem as long as we&#039;re content to leave the matter in his almighty hands.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dianne Barker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-28T11:22:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-28T11:25:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dianne Barker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dianne Barker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dianne Barker\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ea590e3509988772b4e4f576abf6be1f\"},\"headline\":\"Have You Ever Asked God Why?\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-28T11:22:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-28T11:25:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381\"},\"wordCount\":615,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Dianne Barker\",\"Gideon\",\"Have you ever asked God why?\",\"Job\",\"Joshua\",\"Living the maximum life\",\"Moses\",\"sovereignty of God\"],\"articleSection\":[\"General\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381\",\"name\":\"Have You Ever Asked God Why? - Dianne Barker\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-28T11:22:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-28T11:25:11+00:00\",\"description\":\"Asking God why is a normal response to heartbreat. It's not a problem as long as we're content to leave the matter in his almighty hands.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Have You Ever Asked God Why?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/\",\"name\":\"Dianne Barker\",\"description\":\"Author and Conference Speaker\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Dianne Barker\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/\",\"sameAs\":[],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/diannebarker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/homepage-sidepic01.jpg?fit=113%2C127&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/diannebarker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/homepage-sidepic01.jpg?fit=113%2C127&ssl=1\",\"width\":\"113\",\"height\":\"127\",\"caption\":\"Dianne Barker\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ea590e3509988772b4e4f576abf6be1f\",\"name\":\"Dianne Barker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a2bb8aaedc0022bcca640805aa74a4d4eb76d586f875ad4fb73607876cddf84e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a2bb8aaedc0022bcca640805aa74a4d4eb76d586f875ad4fb73607876cddf84e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dianne Barker\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Have You Ever Asked God Why? - Dianne Barker","description":"Asking God why is a normal response to heartbreat. It's not a problem as long as we're content to leave the matter in his almighty hands.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Have You Ever Asked God Why? - Dianne Barker","og_description":"Asking God why is a normal response to heartbreat. It's not a problem as long as we're content to leave the matter in his almighty hands.","og_url":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381","og_site_name":"Dianne Barker","article_published_time":"2020-07-28T11:22:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-07-28T11:25:11+00:00","author":"Dianne Barker","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dianne Barker","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381"},"author":{"name":"Dianne Barker","@id":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ea590e3509988772b4e4f576abf6be1f"},"headline":"Have You Ever Asked God Why?","datePublished":"2020-07-28T11:22:13+00:00","dateModified":"2020-07-28T11:25:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381"},"wordCount":615,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Dianne Barker","Gideon","Have you ever asked God why?","Job","Joshua","Living the maximum life","Moses","sovereignty of God"],"articleSection":["General"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381","url":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381","name":"Have You Ever Asked God Why? - Dianne Barker","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-07-28T11:22:13+00:00","dateModified":"2020-07-28T11:25:11+00:00","description":"Asking God why is a normal response to heartbreat. It's not a problem as long as we're content to leave the matter in his almighty hands.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=1381#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Have You Ever Asked God Why?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/","name":"Dianne Barker","description":"Author and Conference Speaker","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#organization","name":"Dianne Barker","url":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/","sameAs":[],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/diannebarker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/homepage-sidepic01.jpg?fit=113%2C127&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/diannebarker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/homepage-sidepic01.jpg?fit=113%2C127&ssl=1","width":"113","height":"127","caption":"Dianne Barker"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ea590e3509988772b4e4f576abf6be1f","name":"Dianne Barker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a2bb8aaedc0022bcca640805aa74a4d4eb76d586f875ad4fb73607876cddf84e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a2bb8aaedc0022bcca640805aa74a4d4eb76d586f875ad4fb73607876cddf84e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dianne Barker"},"url":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?author=2"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9m6jT-mh","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1381"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1383,"href":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381\/revisions\/1383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}