Why would God allow 102 fathers of unborn children to perish in the collapse of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001?

Why would God allow thousands of people to lose their pensions because of greedy corporate executives who were padding theirs?

Why would God allow men in his name to abuse innocent children—and continue in ministry?

Why do the young die?
Why do the godly perish?
Why do the wicked prosper?

What, or who, has...
turned on the tap of your tears,
tossed you in your bed at night,
preoccupied your waking thoughts,
blackened your hopes for the future,
broken your heart,
wrenched an agonized “Why?”
from your trembling lips?

One of the most anguished periods in my life, when that “why?” echoed from my heart, was during the time of my mother’s physical frailty before she moved to our Father’s House. Indelibly recorded in my mind’s eye is her pale, gaunt face, which would be wreathed with joy when I walked through the door of her bedroom where she was confined. Unable to do anything for herself, she was, in her own words, “stuck like a mouse on a glue board.” But her warm hazel eyes sparkled with the zest for life that was her own special trademark, even on the night before she died.

I slept in her room that last night, and embraced her frail body, feeling the heat of her temperature and the protrusion of her bones through her thin, but elegant satin gown. At her slightest movement, I would hover over her, stroke her face, and hold her hand. She was unable to speak clearly, so I just spoke softly to her to let her know I was there. Within moments, she would drift off to that other world that is somewhere between this one and the next. And I was left to wonder, Why? Why was my mother’s life ending like this? Why, after a life lived selflessly for others, was her old age cursed by degenerative arthritis, macular degeneration, and physical weakness that left her totally helpless and dependent on others?

Unanswerable questions are not restricted to any particular age or stage of life. I remember the time when one of my children wandered into that “far country” where prodigals live. There were many times when why’s stabbed my heart like fiery darts and buzzed through my head with faith-threatening taunts, Why?

And the why’s seem to multiply:

A beloved professor who had been a mentor to me, and who had, among many other things, reviewed my manuscripts to verify their theological accuracy, finally succumbed to a battle with cancer. Why?

Three months after my strong, handsome husband retired from forty years in his dental practice, diabetes made his face swell and attacked his eyes, kidneys, and heart, threatening his quality of life and his life itself. Why?

Photo: courtesy of AnGeL Ministries
Broken hearts asking the question Why? are as old as the human race, beginning with our first parents. What would it have been like to wake up the morning after having been banished from the Garden of Eden because of a very wrong choice? I would imagine Adam and Eve had been lying on the cold, hard ground, covered in smelly animal skins. After a fitful night’s sleep, did they have a moment in between unconsciousness and full alertness when they thought everything they had been through the day before was just a horrible nightmare? Only to come fully awake and face-to-face with the cold, hard consequences of their choice to disobey God? There would have been no comfort in each other on that first night after the way Eve had involved Adam in her sin, and Adam had blamed Eve when convicted of it.

In utter loneliness, separated and alienated from God, their minds must have initially been preoccupied with reliving those awful moments that had led to their disobedience. “Why did I listen and speak to the serpent?” “Why didn’t I pray first?” “Why didn’t God intervene to protect us?”

The most tragic day in all of human history could not be relived. And it was not over. In the years to come, after the joy of giving birth to three sons, Adam’s and Eve’s hearts were broken once again as they buried their second son, who was murdered by their firstborn. Why?

God answered that unspoken question with a promise that transcended the generations for every age to come when he reassured Adam and Eve that one day he would send a Savior who would destroy the power of sin, death, and the Devil—the ultimate sources of all human suffering. To our heart-wrenched Why? God’s ultimate answer is, “Jesus.” Trust him.

At the tomb of her brother Lazarus, Jesus told Martha, “If you believed, you would see the glory of God” (John 11:40). She made the decision to put her trust in Jesus, and he raised her brother from the dead!

So...when there are no answers to your questions...

Trust him when you don’t understand.
Trust him when your heart is broken.
Trust his purpose.
Trust his heart.
Trust his goodness.
Trust him beyond the grave.
Trust him to know best.
Trust his plan to be bigger than yours.
Trust him to keep his word.
Trust him to be on time.
Trust him to be compassionate.
Trust him to set you free.
Trust him—and him alone!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son ...” (John 3:16). And for this very reason, when we are tempted to question whether or not God cares, we are reminded that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He cares! God does care! In the times when you and I can’t trace his hand of purpose, we must trust his heart of love! Trust his answer to why.

Anne Graham Lotz, founder of AnGeL Ministries, has passionately proclaimed God's Word to people around the world for more than 30 years. The daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Billy Graham, she is a best-selling author, whose nine books include the renowned Just Give Me Jesus (Thomas Nelson, 2000).