There are some people who have been hurt by God. When they pray, they feel slighted by the Almighty. They know God could have intervened. They have heard of God’s sovereignty, so if God is truly all powerful and if He is in fact all loving, then why did He not step in and grant a different outcome?

I am not sure if there is a worse feeling than feeling cheated by God. So how does a believer respond when you want to love God and you still want to follow God, but you feel hurt by Him? How do you pray and trust a God who has let you down, so it seems?

Well, there is hope for hurting hearts. One of the most difficult lessons a Christ follower can learn is to that we do not ask God why…instead, we ask God what and we ask Him how.

What is God Allowing?
I think one of the first steps to accepting God’s will in difficult and painful situations is to understand that God is in fact working in your life. It may seem that He is silent. It may even seem that He is cruel, but be assured, His plan is unfolding. The Bible assures us of God’s plans for His children.

Some people would look to psychics or to the stars to understand what the future holds. But children of God should never insult the Creator by looking to the stars that He created for guidance in our lives. No! If you want to know God’s plans simply follow the Bible.

Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Consider Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

John Piper has well said, “God is doing ten thousand things in your life right now and you may be aware of two, maybe three of them.” Trust that God is working and orchestrating the events of your life. You can trust God, even in the painful seasons, because this chapter of your life is not the full story!

Why is God Allowing It?
The next step is to getting on the same page with God is to ask, “Why is God allowing what I am experiencing?” I am so thankful that God is not a haphazard God. Instead, the Bible tells us to “Consider the work of God.” In other words, calculate what God is allowing and doing in your life.

Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 has comforted me many times. It says, “Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.”

I appreciate the strong and vivid language of Ecclesiastes 7. When you ask the question, “Why is God allowing this?” You are then “considering the work of God.”

Yes, you may be experiencing a difficult and hurtful time in your life, but consider, it is God who has made the day of adversity as well as the day of prosperity. This means you can trust Him as much in the difficult days as you can in the joyful days.

How Should I Be Growing from This?
Charles Stanley reminds us, “What is painful is often profitable.” What should you be gaining from your trial? When the Lord allows us to go through any difficult situation, it is not by happening stance.

It was Alan Redpath who once said, “Whatever comes into my life has first went through the throne of God and met His approval for my life.” For those who believe this, we have the confidence that whatever we gain or whatever we lose has met the approval of God.