I heard some heavy news just before I went to bed last night. Another drowning accident in our Christian community. This time a husband, father, and youth leader and an eleven-year-old boy. Last week it was a nearly three-year old boy. The sadness and loss is nearly indescribable.

Now I’m sure the questions will be asked of each other. Of God the “why” questions. They are common ones and I know our Lord is not surprised by them. He welcomes them. The whys tell Him the person asking still believes in Him, but doesn’t understand.

Right now, those people really don’t want to know the why. They just want their loved ones back.

There is a fact about asking God “why?” First of all, God doesn’t answer all questions.That’s hard to understand sometimes, but it’s true that it is for our best He doesn’t answer all the questions–even though He knows the answers. Does that make sense? In the Old Testament it says,

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29

One thing is for sure. We all will die. We die physical deaths because of Adam’s sin. That’s one of the reasons why the Bible says the wages or penalty, of sin is death. We can escape eternal spiritual death by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.

So what? You might ask. I hurt. I didn’t want this to happen. That’s true. None of us would choose this.

Now you have a choice. You can trust that God is good even though this tragedy has happened.

I can promise you God is good and will take the brokenness of your life and transform it into something good. Because He has done it in my own life.

Many people believe–and in our society for sure–that God exists to make people feel happy. Yet, there are other qualities of life than just feeling happy.

What are qualities of life that make you feel more than just happy? I was asked that question about ten years ago after my second husband died suddenly. At first I honestly didn’t believe it was fair God took Blair after only seventeen months. As time passed though, I realized there are more things than happiness. There is contentment. Joy. Peace in Christ (not the world–it doesn’t give it). Love.

One thing I know for sure. God was not surprised by the tragic events of the past two weeks. Did you know each of us have our days lined out for us? It’s true. In the Psalms it says:

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:13-16 NIV).

What about those why questions? Ask God the hard questions. He’s not threatened by them. Ask God to enlarge your understanding of what is good. Realize we can’t do this journey of life on our own. Ask God to take this brokenness and make something good out of it.

 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters (Romans 8:28-29 NLT).

One final thought. If we had the answer to the why would it change our grief? There will still be an empty place at the table. Our hearts will still  hurt like fire than anything we’ve ever experienced.

God is good and can take the brokenness of your loss and make it into something good. How can I say that? Because He’s done it for me. He can do it for you, too.