When Life Doesn’t Make Sense
Karen Jensen

This article is an excerpt from Karen’s new book Why God Why: What To Do When Life Doesn’t Make Sense available on Amazon http://amzn.to/11McdWB. Karen is an instructor at Rhema Bible Training college and also travels around the U.S. and the world ministering God’s Word. www.karenjensen.org.

In 1997, when my husband Brent and I were both 37 years old, he suddenly died. He hadn’t been sick or anything, he just went to bed one night and went to heaven! At the time we were pastoring a church in Boise, Idaho, and I was left to raise our teenage sons and pastor the church on my own.

You can imagine that my life, and the lives of my sons, drastically changed after that day. But we can also testify that God is faithful! He saw us through, and led us into a bright future of hope and promise. Today we are all in ministry and serving God with all our hearts.

One of my favorite verses is Psalm 23:4: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me" (KJV). That verse lets me know that first of all, there is a valley of the shadow. Stuff is going to happen in this life—it just is. And sometimes it doesn’t make sense. I wish I could wrap us all in cotton and insulate us so that bad things won’t happen, but I can’t. Besides, that would be no kind of life! A real life has challenges and risks. Without those, our existence would be dull indeed.

The key word in Psalm 23:4 is “through.” When something happens, keep walking through the valley of the shadow; don’t set up camp there! The valley of the shadow is not a place you want to stay. Keep going until you come out the other side. And you can make it.

When Everything Changes

We’ve all met people who’ve allowed hard circumstances or a traumatic event to stop them in their tracks or even define their lives. Perhaps there was failure or hardship. Maybe a loved one or best friend died, and they couldn’t get past it. Maybe someone did them wrong, even a long time ago, and they’re still rehashing it, blaming all their troubles on that horrible thing that happened.

Maybe you’re the one who is stuck.

When something traumatic happens, it can sometimes make you feel like you don’t know anything anymore. You thought you knew what to expect. You thought you could count on certain things to always be there for you, or to always be the same, but then when something bad happens, you’re not sure at all.

I thought I was going to be married to Brent my whole adult life. In an instant, everything changed. I thought I would always be a wife, but after he died I had no idea what my future looked like. The things I thought were sure had been irrevocably changed. Nothing seemed sure anymore.

I had questions!

Maybe it’s the same for you. You might feel like you can’t possibly move on when you don’t know what to expect in the future. Sometimes it’s terrifying.

I’m here to assure you that even though you may have questions, you do still know some things. I think it’s perfectly okay to ask God all the questions you want — but don’t stay there in the land of questions.

So after you ask your questions, then what? How can you keep living, loving and serving God? How do you move forward, out of the valley of shadow?

Well, I think that in order to break down camps of pain, sadness, regret, confusion or disappointment, you ask the questions then push them to the back burners of your life and trust God.

Trust God

During the weeks immediately after Brent died, I wasn’t ready yet to start preaching in our church three times a week, so ministry friends came to fill the pulpit for me.

Inevitably, at the end of most services, the visiting minister prayed for me and I would just bask in the presence of the Lord—sometimes for up to an hour. In those times God would just minister His wonderful comfort to my heart and I felt like I could ask Him anything.

So after a while, I would ask, “Father, as long as we’re here, is there anything You want to tell me about what in the world happened?” And each time He patiently gave me the same answer: “Will you trust Me?”

Now, I might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I quickly deduced that it wasn’t a good time to stop trusting God! Some people might back away or even get mad at God, but right then I needed Him more than ever. Running away from Him didn’t seem as smart as running toward Him.

Each time He asked if I trusted Him, I said, “Yes, Lord.” After about the eighth time we had this conversation, I finally promised, I’ll stop asking that, Lord. I still have questions, but yes, I will trust You.

Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." Every day I’ve learned more of what it means to trust Him with all my heart, even if I didn’t understand certain things. I knew then that without Him I’d never be able to pastor a church, raise teenage boys or get over losing my husband, so I chose to trust.

Leave the Past Behind

If you study the lives of successful people—in the Bible, in ministry, in sports, in Hollywood, or in the business world—you’ll find that many of them have had bad things happen to them, and they all had questions.

But despite their traumas or disappointments, they left the past behind them, survived the pain, and moved on. When they were knocked down, they got up. They persevered through heartache until they came out the other side, stronger.

Then there are other people who’ve had something bad happen to them, and they stop right there. The bad thing defines them, and they never move ahead. My heart hurts for these people.

I truly believe that one huge key to success in life is the ability to leave the past behind.

The storms of life come to everyone. Despite how you feel when you’re knocked down, you’re not the only one who’s had hard things happen to them. Everyone has. It’s what you do in the midst of trouble that determines what happens next.

I remember watching a football game on television where Jake Plummer was quarterback for one of the teams. In that particular game Jake threw two or three interceptions in the first three quarters. Then in the fourth quarter he threw a game-winning touchdown pass.

Hank Stram was the television commentator that day. After that touchdown pass, he said, “Jake has what all the great quarterbacks have—the ability to forget.”

Isn’t that the truth? Certainly Jake felt horrible each time he threw an interception. But his failure didn’t stop him from going back onto the field to throw more passes. He kept coming back, even after he was intercepted more than once. If he hadn’t, he never would have thrown the game-winning touchdown pass.

I will never forget Hank Stram’s comment. Jake Plummer managed to leave the past behind. It was the only way he could succeed and lead his team to victory. That’s something we all want to learn how to do.

Rise Up!

The apostle Peter also understood this principle of leaving the past behind. In Matthew 26 we see him vow his undying loyalty to Jesus (see vv. 33-35). But then, almost right away, three times Peter denies he even knows Jesus (see vv. 69-75). Wow. Now that’s grounds for feeling guilty!

But Peter didn’t let that embarrassing moment define him.

Even after Jesus was crucified, Peter chose not to camp out in the land of sorrow and guilt—instead he rose up and went to the upper room with the disciples on the day of Pentecost (see Acts 2). After being filled with the Holy Spirit that day, it was Peter who preached the sermon that won 3,000 people to the Lord! (see Acts 2:14-41).

Make that your goal—to forget what’s behind and press forward. If Jake and Peter did it, you can do it.

You can ask your questions, put them on a back burner, then continue “cooking” with God on the front burners of life, moving forward with Him. It’s what I learned to do after my husband died, and it’s what you can do too.
_____________

This article is an excerpt from Karen’s new book Why God Why: What To Do When Life Doesn’t Make Sense available on Amazon http://amzn.to/11McdWB. Karen is an instructor at Rhema Bible Training college and also travels around the U.S. and the world ministering God’s Word. www.karenjensen.org.