Ezekiel 14:23

"And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God."
Ezekiel 14:23


I like this scripture.  It is talking about specific things that the Lord has done / will do in this scripture... but to me, it applies to everything.  Sometimes we question things that God has done, thinking that something else would have been more appropriate, or wonder why things are going to happen in the last days.  I was just talking to someone the other day who was wondering why, if God is so dang powerful... why doesn't everything work out?  Why would anyone starve?  Why would he let anyone hurt children... and so on.  Those are good questions, and I can't answer them all.  We need free agency, and we need to learn to act, and not to just have God solve all of our problems for us.  What will we learn that way?  But there are hard questions in there... and I know that some people have it rougher than it seems like is bearable.  I don't know why... but this scripture helps me a little... that God does everything for a reason.  He isn't playing a game.  He loves us, and wants us to be happy... eternally.  Sometimes, just like children, we aren't happy when we don't get what we want, or think that we need... but God can see a lot farther than we can, and is preparing us for happiness in the long-term.  Right now, everything in our earth lives seems so dramatic, so important... and some things are.  But most are not, compared with our lives eternally.  Any choice that we make that sacrifices who we will be forever is a scary choice to make when we can't see past right now.  God can... which is a good reason to talk to him, if we can't find any other. :)
Imagine, wherever you are, that someone came in with a gun and threatened to kill you and the people with you unless you do something that is utterly repulsive to you... whatever that may be.  The choices that you make in this moment affect not only your life, but the lives of everyone around you.  You are so focused on getting through that moment, that almost anything that gunman asks you to do, you will do... or you will find a way to overcome him, at the risk of your life.
I think that sometimes in life we accept that scenario.  Satan holds a gun to our head and we are so focused on that moment that we give up the rest of our lives... and we don't realize that the gun isn't loaded, or that in three seconds a security guard will burst in and save us all... that we have help, and it isn't all on our shoulders.  Next time it happens, ask God to step in. :)  He does *everything* for a reason, because he can see the whole picture, where we can see only a blob of color, and don't even know what it is supposed to be.