Our Mysterious God

How can we fathom the ways of God?

His timing, His ideas, His standards, His values, and His will, are so very different from our own.
In a world where marriages are suffering, families are breaking down, the integrity of the Church is being challenged, and war-torn nations spread long and wide, it is tempting to ask, "What kind of a God allows these things to happen"? However, I believe that only a generous, gentle, loving and caring God, does.

A friend of mine suffered a miscarriage recently. This is not her first, or second...or, third. In fact, I think the number rises upward toward 6 and she was so looking forward to this little one joining her other three, beautiful children at home.

But, it was not to be.

Notice that I didn't write that it was not "meant" to be, because I think, indeed, it WAS "meant" to be. After all, God "visited" her and her husband and created that new life in the womb.

As I pray for my friend and ponder the tremendous sorrow that losing this baby has wrought upon her heart, I must say, that deep within my own heart and soul, I still feel peace; and I still feel happy for her.

How can this be?

Well, as I told my friend, the beauty and the blessing and the joy lies in "the surrender" to God's will for our lives. He calls us to be open to new life in our marriages and she, my friend, and her husband, have steadfastly, faithfully, and earnestly answered, "Yes!"

Therefore, there is no "failure". There is no "This was God's will".

God wanted her to have that baby just as much as she wanted to have him/her.

Yes, God "allowed" this to happen...but we must believe that He, too, is sharing in her sorrow as He welcomes that wee one into His loving and eternal presence.

In times of great trial or suffering, we must have faith that "In Christ, there is peace and joy". We must understand that no more do we "will" for our child to stumble and fall and get injured when he/she is walking by our side, does God "will" our tragedy upon us. And yet, in much the same way that we rush over to our little one, scoop him/her up into our arms of comfort and nurture and care for them until they are well enough to walk along on their own, once more...So, too, will God lift us up into His loving embrace, and nurture us back to health when we are hurting.

Could he stop our suffering before it ever happens? Yes, He could. He is God. And, sometimes, He does.

However, when we are faced with those times where He doesn't stop the storm before it starts, then we can trust and believe that the experiences we are enduring are, in the end, for His glory and for our good.