by Rebecca Kocsis

With my daughter’s wedding quickly approaching, I was counting the days until I could close my office door and just be “the mother of the bride.” It was very obvious that after the wedding, I was going to have to push to catch up, especially if I was going to meet some important deadlines. Then I received that item in the mail that nobody looks forward to – an Official Jury Summons.

As I opened it, I was thinking to myself, “This cannot be happening – not now. As if I don’t have enough going on already! Why me?” Sure enough, I would be reporting for jury duty a few short days after our out of town visitors left for home. As a citizen of a free country, I know jury duty is just as much a privilege as it is a responsibility, but why is it that the summons always arrives at the most inopportune times?

Fast forward to a few weeks later. I get a friendly reminder call from the mortgage company that the “balance” of my payment was overdue. My mind is racing, “What are they talking about? Balance? It’s not overdue? I mailed the entire payment weeks ago!” It took the better part of the morning to figure out what on earth happened and how to rectify the situation. I spent hours wading through the mortgage company’s and the bank’s never ending voice-mail options; verifying that my check did not clear the bank; stopping payment on it – which I had to pay for; and issuing a new payment – which the customer service specialist kindly informed me – now included a late fee. Nobody had a clue as to whose money they credited to my mortgage as a partial payment. Those poor people probably got a friendly reminder call of their own. And then everything that I needed to get done that morning was still waiting to be done. All the while, I’m asking myself, “why me?” When my husband called to see how my morning was going, I filled him in on the details and concluded with the statement, “It’s just been one irritating situation after another.”

Now, truth be told, our household has been fraught with an inordinate number of irritating situations lately – some really big, some small. The Bible has a term for them – trials. God’s Word also makes it clear that He has an eternal purpose for trials. Though they are for my good, they are ultimately for His glory. I had to admit to myself that I was developing a bad habit of why-ning; why-ning about trials doesn’t bring God glory.

The answer to “Why me?” is “It’s not about me.” It affects me; sometimes profoundly. But God wants to use me to exalt His Son and bring glory to His name. That thought amazes me, especially knowing how sinful and inept I am. To think the God of the universe can use my life to bring glory to Himself-THAT is mind-boggling. Remembering that fact causes me to stop why-ning and start praying. “What do You want to do here, Lord?” and “Help my actions and responses to glorify You.”

Where are you right now? Are you wondering why the school year isn’t going your way? Have you been met with one frustration after another as you sit down with your children and their school books? Do you walk from one room of your house to another and all you see are unfinished chores? Are you why-ning to your husband, your girlfriends, or to the Lord?

Remember, what the world calls problems are what the Bible calls trials. God has an eternal purpose for them. The question shouldn’t be “why?” It should be “what?” “What do you want to accomplish here Jesus? Be glorified in even this.”

Sometimes it’s hard to imagine how God could possibly bring glory to His name in the messes we have. That’s one of the wonderful things about having an omniscient and sovereign God. We don’t have to understand it all, because He does. We don’t have to be able to do it all, because He can. We just need to be willing to allow God to glorify Himself in our lives. Come to Him with a heart willing to obey what He shows you to do and trust Him for the outcome.