Why Christians Need to Stop Explaining Every Hard Thing

Hey, and welcome back to Journey with Jesus. This is your host and author, Johnny Singh, and I appreciate you spending a little bit of your time today with me on today's reflection. If you're a listener of the podcast, whether on the Substack app or on the podcast platform or wherever you might be listening to it to, comment the words main character, main character that way we can know who all of our listeners are. Today's reflection. Why Christians need to stop explaining every hard thing, a reflection on disappointment, misplaced theology, and learning to trust God without needing an explanation. This may come as no surprise. If it does, then perhaps it is time to wake up to a humble in truth. You are not the main character. That sentence sounds harsh at first, or culture conditions us to believe the opposite. Every story centers on personal fulfillment. Every setback is supposed to be a stepping stone toward something greater. Every closed door must mean a better one is waiting, right? But life does not always work that way, and scripture never promised that it would. A memory from the summer of 2016. Back in the summer of 2016, I had the privilege of playing on my high school men's volleyball team. Where I grew up, the sports community was relatively small. Most of us rotated between the same sports depending on the season. Volleyball, basketball, football, well, that's what my American friends would call soccer, and cricket. The same group of guys often played all of them. That year, our volleyball team made it into the qualifying tournament that could lead to a regional selection. Some players would be chosen from our school team to represent the region and possibly move toward national competition. For us, this was huge. We trained for hours with the limited resources we had. Afternoons, after school turned into late evenings. Some weekends were spent practicing as well. Our coach began making encouraging remarks about my chances of being selected. What made it even more meaningful was that I had only recently transitioned from basketball to volleyball. It required adjustment, different movements, different instincts, different teamwork. Thankfully, my teammates helped me grow into the game. Months of training finally led to a game week. We played on back-to-back days and made it to the qualifier match. The final game was scheduled on Sunday during a large public celebration. The venue was expected to be packed. Sponsors would be there. Food vendors would be there, and yes, scouts would be there as well. I was thrilled, but underneath the excitement was another feeling, somewhat of a quiet disappointment. I had not yet told my parents much about the games. They had never attended any of them to be honest, and volleyball simply was not seen as something serious in our home. To them, it was just a sport I enjoyed. In all fairness, culturally, it was not expected that my parents would attend my sport and events or assume that these things would lead to anywhere significant, but the final match was on a Sunday, and in our home, Sunday meant assembling with the Saints. No exceptions. To summarize what followed, I did not play in that game, and well, the opportunity passed. The lesson that stayed with me. Looking back now, one thought comes to mind. Life brings missed opportunities, unanswered prayers, disappointments, broken relationships, strained friendships, grief, and loss. When those moments arrive, we naturally want to explain it away. We want reasons. We want reassurances, we want to know that something better is coming. And often, this is where bad theology quietly slips in. The theology of comfort and cliches. If you have spent time around Christian circles, you likely heard statements like these. God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers. Or God needed another angel. Or maybe God closed that door because something better is coming. Or how about this one? God knows what's best. Most of these statements are spoken with sincere intentions. I believe so. People just want to comfort someone who is hurt and they want to help the pain make sense. But good intentions do not always produce sound theology. Many of these sayings are not found anywhere in Scripture. Some even contradict what the Bible actually teaches. Firstly, God does not turn people into angels. Scripture never says that suffering is a sign based on some amount of spiritual strength. The Bible never promises that every missed opportunity will be replaced with something better in this life. Sometimes, things simply just hurt. Sometimes, prayers are not answered in the way we hope. Sometimes, opportunities pass and they just never return. Trying to attach confident explanation to every hardship can distort our understanding of God. In many cases, we are not even defending God's wisdom. We are just trying to soothe our discomfort with uncertainty. Scripture does not always give us explanations and we need to be okay with that. Often, it gives us something better, it gives us perspective. Scripture does not hide disappointment. Consider a few moments from the lives of faithful people. Moses led Israel for decades, yet he was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. Deuteronomy chapter 34 verse 4 says, "The Lord said to him, 'This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you shall not go over there.'" Paul pleaded with the Lord to remove the thorn in the flesh three times. The answer he received was not relieved, but grace. Second Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9 says, "My grace is sufficient for you. For power is perfected in weakness." Or what about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane? He expressed the weight of suffering before submitting to the Father as well. Matthew chapter 26 verse 39 says, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass for me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." None of these moments were explained away with spiritual clichés. They were simply moments where each person had to surrender, when we stop making ourselves in the center. Sometimes the deeper issue is this. We quietly assume that our lives are supposed to reach some kind of climatic fulfillment. A moment where everything makes sense. A story where every hardship eventually reveals a perfect reason. But Scripture does not frame life that way at all. Solomon wrote this in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 13, "The conclusion when all has been heard is to fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person." Jeremiah says this in Jeremiah chapter 10 verse 23, "I know, O Lord, that a man's way is not in himself, nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps. What about Jesus? He reminds his listeners that ultimately all Scripture is pointed to him." In John chapter 5 verse 39, Jesus says, "It is these that testify about me." The story of Scripture is simply not centered on human fulfillment. In fact, it is centered on God. So what do we do with this appointment? Firstly, we stop pretending that every hardship comes with some tidy explanation. Secondly, we stop forcing theological conclusions that Scripture never really makes. Thirdly, we stop assuming our lives are supposed to unfold, like a careful scripted story with us being the heroic character. Instead, we do something far more difficult, but far more fateful. We trust God. Even when we do not understand, even when opportunities pass, even when the answer never comes, the Christian hope is not that everything will make sense now. The Christian hope is that God will make everything right later. Paul reminds us that creation itself is waiting for that day. In Romans chapter 8 verse 21, he says, "The creation itself also will be said free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." That is the promise. Not perfect, cliché type explanations now, but rather perfect restoration later. So here's a final thought. The most freeing realization in the Christian life may just be this. God is. And strangely enough, once that truth settles into our heart, disappointment loses much of its power, because the story, well, it was never about us in the first place. Okay, that's a lot, but ultimately, I hope that the takeaway can be a sound and a one that becomes very familiar to us. We are not the main characters. All bad things does not have a perfect and reasonable or theological explanation behind it. Sometimes bad things just happen. Most times bad things happen to what we would consider good people. If this reflection encouraged you, if writings like this help you think more deeply about scripture and about your faith, thank you for reading and listening and sharing with others. And if you feel moved to support the work behind these reflections, you can do so through my link list that is by me a coffee. Your encouragement helps make it possible to keep writing, study and and sharing these conversations about faith and life. Either way, thank you for being here. And once again, until next time, continue to be faithful, continue to be prayerful and continue on this journey with Jesus as we walk together.