As a believer I love listening to the “then God” stories. The doctor told me there was no hope and then God… I lost my job, I could not pay my bills and then God… My marriage was all but done, the family was falling apart and then God…. One of the reasons that I like these stories so much is that they show God engaged in our lives. Another reason that I like these stories is because they show that God answers our prayers.

As a Christian I also hear the “why God” stories. Why didn’t God heal? Now he’s gone. Why didn’t God supply me? Now I’ve lost everything. I prayed and prayed for my marriage to work, why didn’t God? Now the whole family is falling apart.

We’ve recently witnessed the brutal beheadings of twenty-one Coptic Christians in Egypt, did God not hear their prayers, did God not listen to the prayers of their wives and loved ones? Why did God allow their enemies to seemingly triumph over them? For every “then God” story there are quite a few “why God stories”.

When God seems distant and disengaged, does this mean that He no longer loves us?
Absolutely not. Circumstances should not be the barometer through which we determine if God loves us or not. Jesus, beaten and hanging on a cross in place of all mankind should be the barometer through which we determine how much God loves us. In our Christian walk at times there will be the “then God” stories. Other times there will be the “why God stories”. But the one thing that will always remain constant is God’s everlasting love for us.

– Romans 8:35-39 NLT

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?(As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”)No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Heavenly Father help me to always remember that eternal and unconditional love that you feel for me, whether the circumstance is “then God” or “why God”, because my relationship with you is not based on what is happening now in my life but what happened over 2000 years ago, where you showed your love once and forever on that cross.