It’s okay to ask God, “why?” There’s more to it though

It’s okay to ask God, “why?” There’s more to it though

by | Feb 5, 2026 | Behind the Bucking Chutes

By Caleb Crouch / Cowboys of the Cross

Do You Ever Ask Why?

Here’s a few words from Jesus Himself:

‭‭ Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭45‬ ‭AMPC‬‬ “…for He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes the rain fall upon the upright and the wrongdoers [alike].”

It’s fully human to ask “why.”

But, it’s the enemy’s desire to create doubt toward God during these awful moments that cause us to ask this realistic question.

◦ It’s vital to understand Who is in control.

◦ It’s vital to understand the only just One.

◦ It’s vital to understand Who’s on your side.

◦ It’s vital to know that God makes no mistakes, if He allows it or brings you to it, He will bring you through it!

◦ It’s vital to accept the forbidden earthly journey, and say as Christ also said in the last moments of the garden: “Not My Will, But Thy Will Be Done.”

◦ It’s vital to surrender to whatever the Father allows, decides and wants — He will continue His work, working in and through you, and He will continue working ahead!

◦ God will be Who He’s always been, through eternity, and so will our adversary.

◦ One day, the adversary and all his slaves will be in hell forever!

◦ That same day, all who have chosen God — will be in heaven forever!

Guard yourself, if you ask “why,” just know there’s two directions this can lead you: to God or digging deeper into who God is, recognizing our dependence on Him and humility in our true position.

◦ Guard to always choose your trust God

◦ Guard to resist the devil and his awful lies, plans, and terror.

◦ Guard to not mislead those around.

God will always, always, always come through.

God is always working, even in the face of impossibility.

God will bring you through it, if you can stand the pull!

His presence has never been limited by man’s limitations!

It’s okay to ask “why,” but do it with humility toward God, surrender to Him which will likely need you to fill that gap, and to understand you belong to God.

God knows where we are, exactly what we face, and most important: He cares about you!

Going further by Philip Crouch:

It is okay to ask “why,” but I must make sure the attitude of my heart is right.

This is accomplished by remembering that God is good (always) and any evil that may befall me cannot come from Him (even though He allows it). “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5

This is accomplished by practicing “in everything give thanks” 1 Thessalonians. 5:18. This is easy to do in the good times but also easy to forget to do. It’s vital that I make this a habit during the “good times” so that when the hard times come praise and thanksgiving to God will be my first instinct.

This is accomplished by remembering “that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

Choose praise over complaining.

Choose trust over fear.

Choose thanksgiving over want.

Choose peace in the midst of turmoil.

Choose joy in times of grief

This is how I guard the attitude of my heart when asking “why.”

Cattle can bring out our worst words, on our own we can do great evil with them

Cattle can bring out our worst words, on our own we can do great evil with them

by | Feb 5, 2026 | Power in our Words

By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross“I’m sorry for what I said when we were working with cattle.”

That’s a form of a joke we see about how working with horses and cattle can bring out the worst in us, particularly causing us to swear or have angry outbursts.

We all know the idea of taking a breath and counting to 10 to give us time to calm down but there’s also a biblical way to do this.

James 3 tells us about how much power our words have to do great harm. He uses the example of a bit in a horse’s mouth or the rudder of a ship to make clear how something that seems so small is capable of controlling the direction we take. It can lead us into great evil with the power to destroy. In studies in bullying, there’s research that shows how girls tend to stay on another girl they target relentlessly from face-to-face confrontations to attacks across social media. They are capable of using their words to push someone to suicide though this has happened in both boys and girls.

James isn’t exaggerating in how much evil our words can do. He calls them a ‘restless evil’ and a ‘deadly poison.

I’ve witnessed rodeo cowboys spread rumors that have forced someone to leave the industry even though they knew the stories were likely to be false.

James 3:3-8 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

James makes the point that no human can bring the tongue under control. While it’s easier to choose not to intentionally do harm or spread gossip, it’s so easy to say harmful words in anger.

Earlier in his book, James addresses part of this in James 1:19 saying “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

Now, James seems to be telling us there’s nothing we can do about it but he’s saying no human can tame the tongue, he isn’t saying that it can’t be. We serve and worship a God who can control everything. Instead of taking a breath and counting to 10, we need to take that breath and pray for God to take our anger away or to give us the right words to say.

God will control our tongue if we let Him and we can hold back from doing genuine evil in the world around us.

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