Why Me?

Have you ever asked yourself this question? Did you ever get an answer, not from someone else, but from yourself? After all, what do other people know about you that gives them authority to shape and form your life from their advice? So, what was your answer to yourself? Was it something you know to be true but feel obligates to suppress because of the embarrassment it would cause you? Or was it something that is trivial, small, minuscule and wouldn’t really answer the meta-nature to your question? Wait – do you even know what the meta-nature of your question is?

Does this question of “Why me?” make you seem egocentric, narcissistic, self-absorbed? Does ‘Why me?’ make your sound like a whiner, a spoiled child – no a brat – who can’t even figure out what end is up even though you’ve lived (fill in the blank) years? How is it possible that this question can be asked and make it seem that it really isn’t all about you?

Did you ask this question during a life-altering event? Or was it after some life-altering event? Have you ever considered how we never ask this question before a life-altering event? Is it because living life is a “life altering event” already? Are you in a life altering moment right now?

What danger, or what boredom, could possibly cause you to question why you are the chosen vessel for all this (fill in the blank) to happen to you? Do these questions annoy you so much that you’re unable to see any value in them – let alone the value to the mere existence of living your life? What if, the “Why me?” question hasn’t been the right question to ask every time you mumbled or shouted it out?

Why not you? How does anyone else experience the thrills of this life like you? Who else is better equipped to handle the discomfort of being around the people who annoy and irritate you? Who would you not wish all of this (fill in the blank) to be heaped upon, pressed down and overflowing in abundance like it seems you’re so certain is happening to you? What good would it do them anyway? Who would you want to thrust this upon in your stead? Don’t you care for them? Assuming you don’t, why would you even consider projecting this mess upon their life? What did they do to deserve your misery or your boredom?

How does all this work with grace? Do you give yourself as much grace as you give others? What can grace do for you? Is it possible, “What do you think grace can’t do for you?” might be a better question? What if the limitation you have of grace is simply because you haven’t properly framed the question? Would you change the question? How would grace reframe the question of “Why me?”

Who is this question being direct towards? Is the question rhetorical or do you have an axe to grind with someone? Or do you question the wisdom of God? Did you think I wouldn’t ask this of you? Are you dealing with God about something you don’t want to do? Or do you not believe in a Creator who has pummeled you with all this (fill in the blank)? If you don’t believe, then why are you crying out, “Why me?”

Have you ever considered that you can’t cry out like this if you didn’t believe that somehow you didn’t get here through your own choosing? Does that sound confusing? How does this fancy you: Would you do this (fill in the blank) simply because you want to see what it would be like? Don’t they call people like that masochists? If you enjoy inflicting pain upon yourself, why would you be blaming God for your predicament?

Is it possible that you have held yourself up as an idol for so long that you’ve forgotten truly how much God loves you? What if the logic of your self-actualized deity can’t comprehend the love of a real Creator, one who knew you long before you were a hormonal gleam in the eyes of your parents? Could “Why me?” truly be the cry of a child who believes they have been abandoned, yet can’t see the encompassing arms of love they’re wrapped in? Wouldn’t that more appropriately be called a tantrum?

However, wouldn’t an adolescent make the same proclamation if they knowingly had over-stepped the authority given to them in the anticipation of a quick reward? Did the reward you were expecting fall through? Are you now left with a world of chaos, which you have no ability to deal with, no skill to manipulate, and no patience to listen to?

Why should you believe me that God prepared all these things as a good work for your life? How can all of this (fill in the blank) hitting the fan be seen as a good work, particularly by God, and especially in your life? Can’t God see that you’re suffering? Doesn’t He care? Can’t He do something – anything – to change this (fill in the blank)? Why you? Why me? Why us, every single one of us, young and old; rich and poor; believers and nonbelievers; humanity in general and particular?

How does a wooden beam, nail pierced hands and feet, a crown of thorns, and tattered flesh answer the question, “Why me?” How does, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do,” become a viable answer to “Why me?” What makes your life, or my life, so different from the one who transcended this question: Why me? Are we now truly in this world as he is?

When will you understand, and finally begin to live the truth, how it has never been about you? If you were in Him before the foundation of the world, hasn’t it always been about Him in you – even when you didn’t know He was there? Is it possible that, “Why me?” is simply the cry, “Why Him?” whenever we experience pain commiserate to our vain understanding of His agony?

Why me? Honestly? Don’t you already know? Then what are you waiting for? Do you need a better question? Or do you need a better answer you are willing to work around? What if you have always been an answer looking for the right question? How would the answer to the question be anything other than, Why me!