Why Do People Have Problems?

If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you may have noticed that I am a social work major. I love everything about it and can’t express how thankful I am that God led me to this major! He continues to blow me away by how He leads me and shows me that His plan is always so much better than mine. I am learning so much about the world we live in and about so many different kinds of people. My eyes are being opened and my heart is being touched. I would not want it any other way. I am being challenged to really think and do a lot of soul-searching as I learn about the many different issues I will be faced with and the different people I will be trying to help. Something we talked about in class recently really stuck with me and made me think. It prompted me to write, so here are some of the things I have been pondering.

Social work, by nature, is a helping profession. People go into social work because they want to make a difference in the world and help people who are in need. It’s no secret to any of us that there are plenty of people in this world who need help. We’ve all been in a difficult situation at some point in our lives. However, something came up in one of my classes a few weeks ago that really caught my attention. During our lecture, a question appeared on the screen in the midst of other things we were to take notes on: “Why do people have problems?” It seems like a simple question, but I found that our class was extremely quiet when the instructor voiced it. We all agree that there are countless problems in this world. If there weren’t, there would be no need for social workers. However, I don’t think we address this question very often. We just accept the fact that we all have problems and never think twice about it. Sure, we often question why something is happening when we are going through a hard time, but we don’t typically sit around thinking deeper into the question of why problems even exist or where they originated.

If you’re one of the very few people who do not believe that everyone has problems, take a moment to think about it. Think about the wide variety of problems that exist in this world. Medical problems alone are completely mind-boggling to me. Things can go so very wrong within our bodies even though we are made up of organs and systems that should be able to function correctly. Yet people die every day because of things going wrong inside their bodies. Then, there are mental illnesses that so many people deal with and fight on a daily basis. Depression, anxiety, bipolar, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, and the list goes on. It’s like our brains and our bodies are fighting against us. What is up with that? Natural disasters. Things we have no control over come into our world and often turn our lives upside down. Tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, floods, fires, and so many other things. It seems as if the Earth is attacking itself! Poverty. There are some places in the world that don’t even contain clean water for people to drink, much less food for them to eat, houses for them to live in, and other things that are important in meeting their basic needs. Relationships are broken. People get married and then they get divorced. Spouses are unfaithful to one another. Parents abandon their children. Families are divided and full of conflict. Do I even need to mention politics and the never-ending scandals and controversy that goes on there? Some people can’t make enough money to provide for their families. Just when they think things are going well, they lose their job. Houses need repairing, cars break down, nations are at war, children are taken advantage of, people lie, cheat, and steal, and the list  goes on and on and on.

So, you see? Everyone has problems. The world is a crazy, often scary, place. Has it always been this way? If you pick up and read any book about history, you’ll find that the answer is yes. People have always had problems. But why? Where did all of this madness start?

The answers to this question that were given in class that day were as follows: Genetics. Cultural differences. The environment. Lack of opportunities. And so on.

Yes, these factors can explain a lot of the problems we face, but certainly not all of them. In one of my other classes, we were asked the question “If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?” We all pretty much had different answers. This goes to show that even if we were able to fix one or even several problems, there would always be another one right behind. The condition of this world is out of our control.

Now, don’t accuse me of being all doom and gloom just yet. I did choose to be a social worker, remember? I must think I can make some kind of difference. And I plan to. However, I believe that I will only be able to make a difference one I can answer the original question my teacher posed to us: Why do people have problems?

Yes, people have problems because of cultural differences. Yes, people have problems because of genetics and the fact that they have inherited them. Yes, people have problems because of a lack of opportunities, and, yes, people have problems because of the environment they live in. But all of these answers have to be considered together. Not one of them is correct on its own. I believe that there is one single answer to the fact that we have so many problems. The answer is sin.

It is always nice to be positive, look on the bright side, believe that there is good in the world, and hold onto hope that there are good people in the world. Those things are good and there is truth to them. However, we must also face the reality that this world is a messed up place. It has been for some time now. But here’s where it gets good…there is hope! For all of us!

Before time even began, there was a God. A sovereign, eternal Being that “hovered over the waters” as it says in Genesis 1:2. God created a world in which everything was perfect, including humans. There were no problems and certainly no need for social workers or many of the other professions that exist today. Just God and His people abiding together in a beautiful paradise. Can you imagine how wonderful that must have been? But pretty soon, something went wrong. The humans messed up the perfection that God had created, thus bringing a curse upon themselves. They were given the gift of free will, and they made the decision to disobey God. From that time on, the curse of sin has run rampant throughout creation. Humans are no longer perfect or inherently good. We possess a sin nature that causes us to do bad things and have bad things happen to us. And there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it. Sounds pretty hopeless, right? Well, it’s not. I have very good news for all of us.

There is no way for us to bring back the perfection that originally existed. We messed that up. In fact, there is no way for us to even have a relationship with the perfect, Sovereign God who created us. He is holy and cannot abide with sin. So, what’s going to happen to us? Well, we’re all going to eventually leave this earth. But we are eternal creatures, so we will continue to live even after we die. Without a relationship with God, we’ll have to spend eternity in Hell, which is a very, very awful place. But want to know the awesome, wonderful, incredible news? God made a way for us to have a relationship with Him! He knew that we were going to sin. He knew that we were going to break our relationship with Him and that we would have no way of fixing it. So He decided to fix it Himself. He came down to Earth in the form of a man, Jesus Christ. He was born, lived the absolutely perfect life that we couldn’t live, and then He died the death that we couldn’t die. He was the sacrifice for our sin. Why would He do that? Because of the unconditional, all-consuming, indescribable LOVE that He has for each and every one of us. And all we can do is stand in awe of Him and believe that He is our Savior, our only way back to a relationship with God. When we believe this, it changes everything. We now have hope!

Unfortunately, believing in Jesus does not make our problems go away. In fact, He tells us in John 16:33 that “in this world [we] will have trouble.” But He goes on to tell us that He has already overcome the world. Nothing on Earth can defeat us. We have an eternal hope!

So, now do you see why I still want to be a social worker? It’s not hopeless! It’s actually the opposite. I realize that I will not be able to help everyone. But, that is not my job. I’m called to help the ones who are right in front of me. I have an advantage because I know why they have problems. I know why I have problems. And I also know the answer to all of the problems. I am committed to helping people with the needs they have here on earth in the hope that I will be able to help them with their greatest need of all, a Savior. That is the difference I want to make. Jesus came for the broken, the outcasts, the skeptics, and the needy. He calls us to reach these exact people. And that is what I intend to spend my life doing. I will offer them all I have, and that is Jesus. 

Really great song that goes along with this: https://youtu.be/-JKXhxFwVZc