Why Me Lord?

Why Me Lord?
 
That is a question we have all asked several times in our lives.  But, if we think about it, how we ask that question makes all the difference in the world.  Too often, we only ask this question when things are not going well.  We get sick at the wrong time (is there ever the right time?), bills pile up, we get a flat tire, relationships struggle, bosses demand more, etc, etc.  Things just seem to build up.  It could be that we receive one piece of bad news that just shatters our whole plan for our lives and we find ourselves angry at God and wondering why he keeps picking on us.  Our hearts become bitter, our joy is nowhere to be found, and we find ourselves finding more and more reasons to question what God is doing.  We know that life is never perfect but why does God always give me bad things?
 
There is another way to ask that question.  Maybe it was said best (ok, maybe not best but not so poorly that we can’t learn from it) by that great thinker and theologian, Kris Kristofferson.  He writes and sings this worldview:
 
why me lord?
what have i ever done,
to deserve even one,
of the pleasure i've known,
tell me lord,
what did i ever do,
that was worth lovin' you,
for the kindness you've shown,


chorus:

lord help me Jesus,
i've wasted it so help me Jesus,
i know what i am,
but now that i know,
that i needed you so help me Jesus,
my souls in your hand,


verse 2:
try me lord,
if you think there's a way,
i can try to repay,
all i've takin' from you,
maybe lord,
i can show someone else,
what i've been through myself,
on my way back to you,
 
While Kris was not big on capitalization, he did make a good point.  It is possible to know your sinful self so well that you know that you do not deserve one good thing from God.  What you deserve is the punishment that Jesus took on the cross on your behalf.  You can know, even if you have tried to be good, that your sin is still so invasive is your life that you do not deserve one good thing from the Lord. And yet, your life is full of his love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, power, etc. Your life is so full that the only thing you find yourself saying is “Why me Lord?”.  Knowing in your heart that you have done nothing that could ever deserve these gifts from almighty God, you live a life of gratitude and praise that supersedes any trials that come in this life. You are not shocked when difficult things come in this life, you are shocked by all of the good things you are given.
 
Here is a bonus truth.  Even those things that we think are negative or bad are things that God brings into our lives to continue to conform us into the image of Christ.  That is how we can count everything as joy.  Knowing the good that God is always doing in our lives, we can learn to see the “negative” things as good things.  We do not jump up and down with false joy over them but we learn to ask, “Why me Lord?” in the right way.

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