When Life is Tragic and Doesn’t Make Sense – Part 2

The last time I wrote to you, I encouraged you in the area of what to say and not to say when ministering to persons who have experienced tragedy. Today, I want to discuss faith when this life doesn’t make sense, and it feels as if all “hades” has come against me. I have experienced those seasons. I have wrestled with the Lord for answers when heaven seems silent and hardship presses in. I have asked questions as to what and why. 

I have experienced and I know this profound TRUTH: the Lord is faithful even when I am not. 

I have searched Scripture and discovered the Lord is faithful to us when we are wrestling to stay faithful to Him. He can handle our struggle, and Scripture is packed with examples of humans just like us who struggled to maintain a faithful relationship with the Lord when life doesn’t make sense. He is faithful to us when life is more than we can bear.

I am so grateful that He doesn’t punish me when I struggle. The second lesson: 

I have gained valuable lessons in faith during the most challenging periods of my life.

Finally, listed below are four points to meditate on as we wrestle with our faithful God through hard, tragic seasons.

Faith Doesn’t Always Feel Strong

Let’s begin here: you are not less faithful because you are grieving, doubting, or hurting. 

Jesus Himself wept at the tomb of His friend Lazarus. He sweat blood in Gethsemane under the weight of what was to come. The Psalms are filled with honest laments: “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?” (Psalm 13:1). It is likely that David wrote this Psalm, and he was considered by God, “a man after God’s own heart.” A man who knew sorrow, pain, hardship, betrayal, fear, and so many more emotions.

Biblical faith is not the absence of struggle—it’s trusting God in the midst of it. It’s clinging to Him when your hands are trembling. It proclaims that you will trust when it doesn’t make sense and might even take a long time. Perhaps there will never be an answer for the pain, and yet you will sin against the faithfulness of your God who will sustain you and keep you. Faith sometimes looks like holding on by a thread and whispering, “God, I don’t understand, but I still believe You’re here.”

God’s Silence Is Not His Absence

When life doesn’t make sense, heaven often feels silent. But silence is not the same as abandonment. Job, who endured unimaginable loss, questioned God deeply—but in the end, God revealed His power and presence. Job was a faithful man. One who wholeheartedly worshipped the God of the universe, and yet it seems, because of a conversation in heaven, all of “Hades” came against him. (Job 1-2), Then, when Job argued his case before God, there was not an explanation, but a reminder: “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?” (Job 38:4) God, who sees past panoramic vision for our lives, knows better. He is sovereign and knows what His plans are for His people. (Catch the last two words in that sentence – it makes the difference – His people.) If you are His, can you trust Him amid the pain and hardship?

Sometimes what we need is not answers, but presence. And this is where the gospel becomes more than theology—it becomes hope. Jesus stepped into our suffering. He bore our grief. He didn’t give a five-step plan out of tragedy—He gave Himself. 

Your Pain Has Purpose, Even If You Can’t See It Yet

Romans 8:28 doesn’t say all things are good—but that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him. That includes the things that break our hearts. Sometimes, we won’t see the purpose until heaven. But we are promised that our suffering is never wasted. 

Pain will shape us, but it doesn’t get the final word. We actually get to choose the shape that pain will create. Will we allow pain to show us the God we worship? Will we allow the hardship and grief to move us beyond this moment in our journey? Is it alright to question, grieve, and even get angry? God is always weaving something redemptive, even when we can’t trace His hand. He created our emotions. He knows when we are at the end of ourselves, and He waits for us to let our arms hang down by our sides and turn our faces up to Him in full worship and trust in Him when this life doesn’t make one bit of sense!

Because FINALLY…

Hope Isn’t Denial—It’s Defiance

As believers, we don’t slap a spiritual cliché on our suffering. We don’t pretend everything is fine. But we do declare—even in the valley of the shadow—that God is still on the throne. (Psalm 23)

There is a part of my personality that resonates deeply with the second part of the verse we often quote during hard times. You know the verse found in Job 13:15: “Though He slay me, I will trust (hope in) Him…” We usually stop at this point, but the rest of the verse reads, “Nevertheless, I will make my arguments known to Him.” In other words, we can have defiant hope in Him, and as one of His children, we can still plead our case before the high court of heaven!

Hope is defiant in the face of tragedy. It says, “This is not the end of my story.” It clings to the cross and looks forward to the day when every tear will be wiped away (Revelation 21:4).

As I close this out, it is not written to explain suffering. I cannot fully explain the mind or ways of God. Simply put, I don’t know why floods take away the young and innocent or why even Christians are martyred every day around this globe. I can offer a true religious answer – a Biblical response to the challenges facing our world today, but even with these answers, the pain of suffering and brokenheartedness remains.

I declare the following verses:

“I will walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Cor. 5:7), and finally.

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. ” (Isaiah 26:3)

We must seek Him in the pain. He can handle all of our emotions and grief – we have to allow Him into those places. For those of us supporting those in the middle of tragedy, we must come alongside them with grace, kindness, gentleness, and mercy, leading them gently to focus on the Lord. 

For me, I will place my HOPE in Him, and I will stand upon His promises. Wrestle it out, my friend; he will be faithful to carry you through. 

There is a good worship song, “Praise You In the Storm” by Casting Crowns; Phil Wickham sings it as well. It is a worthy listen and will help you to focus as you worship through a storm.

A Prayer for the Brokenhearted

“Lord, I don’t understand this. I’m hurting. I feel lost in this pain. But I come to You with open hands and a broken heart. Remind me that You are near. Help me to trust when I can’t see. Give me peace that passes understanding, and faith that holds on even in the dark. You are my refuge. You are my hope. You are still God. Amen.”