Why did God allow this to happen? What purpose does the murder of these innocent Christian people serve? Where was God when all this was happening?

We really don’t have an answer to the question. Over the years many people have speculated - and there are suggestions that can be given from a theological perspective. But, the bottom line is that we don’t know.

Many times in life we come to a “why” question and really don’t have an answer. These unanswered “why” questions challenge our faith and our commitment to follow God. Whether that challenge comes from genocide - or even the daily commitment we make to follow God in the struggles of life.

What is God’s answer to our question, “Why?” I invite you to turn with me to Isaiah 55:8,9.

Back in the 700’s and 600’s B.C., the Kingdom of Judah was threatened by the Assyrian Empire. Israel was being conquered and Judah was crumbling. The political alliances they had trusted in were leading them into deeper danger and trouble. The people were desperate.

They asked “why” questions. “How can a God who could let this happen be trusted? Why would God allow this to happen unless He really isn’t able to help us?”

For 40 years, God had been using the prophet Isaiah to speak one message to His people: “Trust Me. I’m still in control. The wicked will be judged. I will restore my people.”

In Isaiah 55 - God speaks to His people: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” - Trust Me! (Isaiah 55:8,9)

It was a message that the people refused to listen to. Rather than trusting God - the people trusted themselves. During the reign of King Manasseh - the people took Isaiah - put him in a hollow log - and sawed him in two. That was their answer to God’s call to trust Him.

These verses in Isaiah 55 are some of the most important verses in the Bible. They tell us that God doesn’t work the way we do.

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” - trust Me.

Maybe not the answer we would have looked for. But, its a great answer. Because it means that God doesn’t do things according to our limited understanding of things. God does things according to His perfect, loving, gracious and merciful will. And He is trustworthy.

When we do something we commission studies and lay out flow charts. We train individuals for the tasks involved. We build machinery and complex organizations and spend endless amounts of money.

But God doesn’t do that. When He wants to do something - God picks some unknown child - takes a few loaves of bread and a few fishes and feeds thousands. God takes six stone pots of water and turns them into wine. God speaks a word and creation comes into existence. God comes and dies for people who have completely rejected Him.

We just don’t understand - and maybe we can’t. God is trustworthy and He has called us - not to understanding - but to faithful obedience - trust.

East of Stockton on highway 4 - in the Sierra Foothills - is the small, rural community of Copperopolis - a town with great spiritual need. Long ago the church had been shut down and the building converted into a town hall.

John Rush - in his book, “The Man With The Bird On His Head,” shares about his experience in Copperopolis. While we’re thinking about how God works and trusting Him - I’d like to read to you from what John Rush writes:

Under the guidance of what I had come to recognize as being God's voice, I began holding services on Sunday afternoons in the rundown former church. I would sweep the rustic floorboards, dust off the chairs and place a hymnal on each one. Then I would tune up my guitar in anticipation of the congregations' arrival. But Sunday after Sunday, it was rare that anyone would come.

I had visited door to door and invited the community to the services. I had handed out flyers, but no one seemed to be interested. The first time this happened, I was greatly discouraged. I wanted to simply give up and go home.

I began folding up the chairs and collecting the hymnals, but God's voice in me was saying,“No, you sing. You preach and do what you've come here to do.”

“There's no one here,” I pointed out the obvious to God.

The still, small voice urged me on. “That doesn't matter. Do what I sent you here to do.”

At the time, this seemed to be the single most nonsensical thing that God could ever ask me to do. Feeling utterly silly, I stepped up to the front of the room and began to sing and play the songs I had chosen for the service. I finished the songs and cleared my throat, ready to preach my message to my audience of empty chairs.

Over the months, this process repeated itself with only an occasional inquisitive spectator. Worshiping and preaching became a matter of discipline and obedience rather than something reaping obvious rewards. I remember driving home from Copperopolis, pondering this strange exercise that God seemed to be putting me through.

I will never forget how He opened my heart to a whole new dimension when He explained simply, “Your unseen audience will always outnumber any audience you will ever see.”

I realized that every message I had spoken and every song I had sung had been cheered on by angelic participants and had made a difference in the unseen realm. Indeed, we are surrounded by a heavenly host, a cloud of witnesses.

This revelation was confirmed nearly two decades after my final visit to Copperopolis. In 1994, I was speaking at a church in San Andreas. After the service, a woman approached me and asked me to come and talk to her mother who was unable to walk to the platform. Her mother, upon hearing that I was in town, had very much wanted to meet me.

I was certainly surprised and asked what had caused her interest. The daughter related to me that her parents had been pastoring in California and in their senior years had felt God specifically telling them to minister in Copperopolis. They had since planted a thriving church there.

I was delighted to meet this lovely woman of God. She excitedly shook my hand and explained that from their first arrival in Copperopolis she had sensed such a sweet presence of Jesus in the town hall. She had told her husband that surely someone had spent many hours praying and preparing the way for their work.

It had been years later that she came across a church bulletin in which I had written the story of my seemingly fruitless efforts in Copperopolis, and her speculations had been confirmed. They had put that bulletin on the front page of their church history, and every year on the church's anniversary, someone would read my article to the congregation and give thanks to God.

I now look with joy upon those hours I spent with the birds and the angels, learning that success has nothing to do with numbers and everything to do with obedience to God.

There are so many times when we wonder if its really worth it. Or, why God chooses to do things the way He does. Or, why doesn’t He intervene or change things. We ask, “Why?”

And His answer is - “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” - trust Me.

This morning God’s answer is for each one of us - whatever your circumstances - whatever He has called you to do - “Trust Me!”