Why Does Life Hurt?

Why?

Why does life hurt?

I’ve wondered the question a thousand times or more. The wounds of every goodbye I’ve ever had to say still run deep. My heart still feels empty and hollow when the memories of every person and place I’ve ever loved dance inside my mind. The tears of every milestone I’ve ever conquered still find me sometimes.

So, I wonder…

Why?

Why does life hurt?

Wasn’t God the one who gave us laughter and friends and passion?

Yet, sometimes, it feels like He’s the one snatching away those exact things.

Isn’t He supposed to be blessing us for following Him? Why does it feel like He’s cursing us instead?

Why does life hurt?

God’s Love

When we left America, I thought that tears were a bad thing. I was ashamed of them. I was embarrassed by them. And, deep inside, I hated them. They only made me hurt more.

It has been three years since we’ve left America, and I now know the value of a tear. I’m proud of them. I treasure them. And, deep inside, I need them. They are always caused by love.

When I say those words, the concept that our tears are formed on the fingertips of love, I sometimes ask myself—what love? What love would take all of this away from me? What love would make me suffer?

The answer is simple.

God’s love would.

Peter

For me personally, one of the most touching stories in the entire Bible is in Luke 22:54-62. I highly encourage you to go and read it for yourself but let me give you a bit of context.

It’s right after Jesus’ arrest and Peter has been following Him at a distance. Several verses before this Peter had claimed that he would go with Jesus to the end and Jesus had responded by saying that the rooster would not crow until Peter had denied Him three times.

Thus sets the stage for verses 54-62. Peter is sitting at a fire in the middle of the courtyard when a serving girl recognizes him as a disciple. Peter says ‘Woman, I do not know Him.’ Later a man comes up and states that Peter was indeed a disciple. ‘Man, I am not.’ Peter responded.

After almost an hour another man claims that Peter was a disciple. Peter denies it again and while he is still speaking the rooster crows. And Jesus looks at Peter. All He had to do was look at him, and Peter’s heart tore. Verse 62 tells us that he went out and wept bitterly.

Peter wept.

Mary

In John 20:11 we find Mary Magdalene at Jesus’ empty tomb. Imagine all the thoughts that were going through her mind. The Man she had followed and served and known to be the Son of God was dead. The Teacher and Rabbi she had respected and honored was gone. Everything she had believed and hoped and clung to had been snatched from her hands and destroyed. The past three years, all the miracles, all the teaching—all of it was gone.

What next?

And she wept.

Jesus

In John 11 we read the story of Lazarus’s death and how Jesus brought Him back to life. Verse 35 is only two words, but it is so powerful and so raw that it is one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible—Jesus wept.

Jesus, the Son of God. The Messiah sent to save and redeem. The Hope and Future of every generation.

Jesus wept.

The Promise in Our Weeping

I relate to all those stories.

I’ve denied Jesus countless times, only to have Him gaze at me in a love that burns my cheeks with shame.

There have been times when it feels like everything I’ve ever believed is being trampled to the ground.

I’ve said countless goodbyes to people I love.

Like Peter, and Mary, and Jesus…I have wept.

But sometimes in life we weigh too heavily on the ‘weeping’ and we forget what comes after.

Peter became the first leader of the early church and was eventually crucified upside down on a cross for his faith in Jesus. Sometimes it takes denying what we believe to know what we believe.

Mary was the first person Jesus appeared to after His resurrection. All He did was call her by name and she knew it was Him. Sometimes it takes testing our faith to grow our faith.

As for Jesus? My favorite thing about that story is realizing that He wept. He knows our pain and our struggles. He knows that our hearts are fragile and that our minds are weak. He knows that we are easily deceived and confused by the simplest of lies. He knows.

Nowadays when I’m hurting and lonely and wondering where it all went wrong, I remind myself…

Jesus wept too.

It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to question. It’s okay to struggle.

But when those moments come, remember…there is a future that we don’t always see. We don’t know how we will grow or learn from our pain, but He does.

Rue

Related Blog Posts: Where is God When Life is Tough?

Why?

Why does life hurt?

Why do we keep getting back up only to fall back down again?

Why?

Why is there so much loss?

Why do we say hello only to say goodbye again?

Why?

Why can’t it all just be okay?

Why can’t we live one day where everyone is smiling, and everyone is safe?

Why?

Why do memories come back to haunt us?

Why do we relive moments of laughter if they only bring tears?

Why?

Because, my friend.

Just because.

Because without falling down how would we learn to stand back up?

Because without loss, what would teach us to treasure every moment?

Because if everyone was happy and safe, we’d never have to face our fears.

Because we’d be so much more broken without the memories than we are with them.

That’s why, my friend.

That’s why.