Faithful and True
There’s just something about a girlfriends’ weekend such as I enjoyed a week ago.
Fritz, Shirley and I talked about our lives and concerns, and reminded each other how God has shown up in a variety of situations.
And we raised questions. Why is evil so rampant in our world … from the horrific bombings in churches where Christians celebrated the resurrection on Easter Sunday to the synagogue shooting in Poway, California a few days ago. Why are some young lives cut short? And does God really bring good out of evil?
Sunday morning we stood in church singing “You are perfect in all of your ways … ” That truth ministered to me in a meaningful way as I recalled difficult times in my own life–a controlling leader who caused significant physical and emotional pain in my life, and the agonizing loss of my first husband, to name just two. And yet, God is perfect, holy, righteous. He could have stopped each of these events, but didn’t.
Sickness and dysfunction are present in our world ever since the Fall of man. Evil exists and people suffer.
Sometimes we see God bring miraculous healing and closure. Other times we see Him give grace beyond comprehension, as when some of the church members in Charleston forgave Dylann Roof, the man who attended Bible study and then murdered eight of their number in 2015.
And yet sometimes we can’t see how God is working in a situation. That’s when we can choose to trust that He is “perfect in all of His ways,” that in light of eternity there is always hope, even beyond understanding, beyond despair. When my first husband died, I wanted to curl up in a shell and withdraw from life. But I knew that would not honor either Jerry or my Lord, and that since I was still here, God’s purpose and plan for me was not over. I chose to trust that He would bring me through, that hope would return, that when my faith was at its lowest He would hold me.
Evil, heartbreak, horror exist and we are touched by it. But God is present with us in every circumstance and He is just. And one day His justice will reign down, evil will be conquered, and righteousness will reign. Wow, what joy!
There are many questions we won’t understand until we see our God face to face. Meanwhile, we can trust the One who is faithful and true.
He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.
Deuteronomy 32:4 NIV
I love your blog this week, Carol. We seem to have been thinking along the same lines this week–expressing a similar truth in a different way.
Yes Karen. Seeing God bring good out of difficulty, chaos and heartbreak gives us hope, doesn’t it. Thanks for your comment and your blog about God’s gifts in our lives. Blessings!
Great post, Carol! I have often thought about how even when God doesn’t answer the way we want, we learn to trust Him by remembering what He’s already done for us.
Thank you Columba. One of the saints once said “Don’t doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the light.” I think that’s so true; that when we feel we have little or nothing to hold onto, we can remember the faithfulness of God in the past. I think that’s why God had the Israelites build memorials…to remind them of significant God-sightings in their life as a people.