Why Did This Happen to Me?

Learning Through the Limp and the Thorn

When my granddaughter, a high school senior, tore her ACL playing volleyball, she asked me several times, “Why did this happen to me?”

I didn’t answer quickly. I was processing it too.

As a pastor, I’ve been trained to respond with several possible explanations for suffering—sometimes as an act of compassion. We talk about suffering for the glory of God, the effects of sin in a fallen world, persecution, spiritual warfare as we see in Job, or simply the mystery of God’s ways. One of my graduate professors used to say that suffering is one of man’s greatest defenses against God.

There is still so much to be discovered about hardship and adversity.

Let me be clear: I’m not certain why my granddaughter is going through this period of physical pain and the major interruption of her senior year. And I may not know why you are going through what you’re facing either. It may be sickness, a broken leg, the loss of employment, a painful divorce, an addiction, or even an unjust prison sentence.

I don’t know specifically why you are going through it.

That’s the mystery of suffering.

But here is a thought worth considering: maybe God weakens us to strengthen us later.

After Jacob wrestled with God, his hip was dislocated:

“When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.”
(Genesis 32:25)

From that day forward, Jacob walked with a limp. The wound became a reminder that the blessing he received came not from his strength, but from God’s grace.

Centuries later the prophet Hosea reflected on that same moment and reminded Israel that Jacob’s struggle with God ultimately led him to humility and prayer:

“He struggled with God and overcame him; he wept and begged for His favor.”
(Hosea 12:4)

Jacob’s limp was not just a wound—it became a testimony that strength often comes through surrender.

Centuries later, the apostle Paul experienced something similar. After receiving extraordinary revelations from God, Paul writes:

“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh… Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’”
(2 Corinthians 12:7–9)

Just like Jacob’s limp, Paul’s thorn kept him dependent on God rather than confident in himself.

Both men were strong personalities. Jacob spent years manipulating circumstances to get ahead. Paul was bold, driven, and relentless in his mission. Yet God allowed weakness to enter their lives—not to destroy them, but to shape them.

Sometimes God interrupts our strength so He can deepen our dependence.

After surviving cancer and looking back eight years later, I’m beginning to believe that my own interruption was good for me. It helped me see more clearly and pursue more confidently the calling God has placed on my life.

Jacob and Paul both walked away seeing more clearly their dependence on God.

Maybe the same will happen for my granddaughter.

Life is short. Live.
The rest of your life can still be the best of your life.

Grace,
Cedric