Hard to Understand

Everywhere I look there is bad news. Turn on the TV and you hear about the economy. Read the newspaper and you see articles about crime, unemployment, and America in crisis. Everyone wonders if their job will be next, and what the future might hold in the next one, two, or even ten years.

This pales in comparision, though, to the stories of heartache that have been shared around the surrounding communities in the past couple of weeks. One local family put their 6 month old baby girl down for a nap last Wednesday and she never woke up. Another young couple took their only child, a 10 month old, in for a routine ear infection check, and left the doctor's office with the knowledge that their baby had cancer spread throughout her entire body. Two short weeks they knew and fought, and today they laid their little girl to rest.

I don't claim to have any understanding of why these things happen. Was it really God's will for these two baby girls to die? Or was it just because we live in a fallen, sinful world? I'm struggling to wrap my mind around it. I know that good can come of it... there will be many people touched through their stories, and maybe people will hear the gospel for the first time. But wouldn't people have been touched if they would have been stories of survival? How they beat the odds? A story of how our great and powerful God was able to heal, despite what medical science said?

God did not answer the prayers like everyone wanted Him to, but it doesn't shake my faith. In spite of the difficult situations, God is a good God. I don't understand why these things happen. I may never understand. But I know that God is good. My Bible class just presented a chapel for the elementary kids this morning all about Jesus' miracles and His amazing power. They taught about trusting Jesus, having faith in Him, and being obedient.

So that's what I hold on to. I know there will be trouble in this world. We were never promised easy, and honestly, life for us has been pretty easy. But in the midst of all the chaos around us, when worry about the unknown threatens to gain control, I will put my hope in the One who created me, saved me, and knows me. I'll release the deep need to understand Him, and rejoice in the fact that I am loved by Him.