Going Through Hell With God

Journeying through tragedy, disappointment or the unknown could well be described as going through hell.  For us as human beings, the analogy of hell is very real when it comes to the loss of a loved one, a sudden change for the worst in health of heart, mind, body or spirit or when faced with a darkness that seems, at the time, to give no sign of hope or healing.

            The description of hell is something that affects one’s life in such a way that we naturally ask “where is God?”  Asking this question is a very real and a natural reaction to tragedy, disappointment or the unknown that may occur in one’s life.  Asking yourself this question is one thing, but when the question is asked directly of God it takes on a whole new dimension. “Where in the hell are you right now?”  In essence, that’s the very question asked by Jesus Christ while hanging on the cross.  “And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’  That is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).

            Something I have come to believe is that “honesty is the best policy.”  It is absolutely essential that a human being is honest with God.  Honesty is an aspect of any relationship and our relationship with God is no different.  Our relationship with God demands respect, trust and especially honesty.  To be true to our feelings and reactions to the events of life is to express them honestly.  To not do so is to deny ourselves of what makes us free as human beings, children of God. 

            God wants to be in relationship with us.  That means that God wants to go through those moments and seasons in our lives when they are filled with happiness, good health and peace, but God also wants to go through hell with you.  It is when we go “through” something, and not around it that we may hope, heal and even love again.

            I have come to understand and believe that in this life we experience both heaven and hell.  In particular moments in our life, humans are given the opportunity to taste what heaven must be like and also what hell must be like.  There is a passage in the Bible that speaks well to the journey of one’s life.  The writer of Ecclesiastes states, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). 

            There is a time and season for everything in life.  When someone says “this happened for a reason” I believe that is true.  I have come to this understanding through my own experience with tragedy, disappointment and the unknown darkness that has consumed my life.  Hope and healing seem so far away when one is in a season of their life that is dark, cold and lonely.  It is in such seasons of hopelessness that our faith in God is challenged and questioned.  In such times we turn to God, not for help, but in anger to blame and curse.  At least that has been my experience.  That is how I felt.  I needed to be honest with God, because in being honest with God allowed God to become a part of what I was feeling and, in that, I was able to work through it.

            I think we as humans often are convinced that God causes such things as tragedy, disappointment and the unknown to happen in a person’s life.  Naturally we blame and curse God for such terrible events in our life.  I believe this can be good for the soul and one’s relationship with God, because with honesty comes healing.