Have you ever felt defeated? Have you ever experienced something so tragic that you felt like you could never recover? I think every one of us has felt these things before. You look around you at all that is happening, and you ask, “God, how could you let such bad things happen to such a good person? I thought you loved me.”
Thankfully, He does love you. I know it can be hard to see in those times of tragedy, but God is with us always. Isaiah 43:1b-2 says, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”
Notice the verse doesn’t say,” I will shelter you from the waters, and the fire will not come near you.” No, God tells us that we will face trials and will experience tragedies, but he also tells us that he will be with us, and we will not be consumed by these things.
I love how Mike Donehey relates these words of God said to him; ” I just want to remind you that Good Friday wasn’t the day when bad things happened to a good person; Good Friday is the day when the worst things happened to the best person, and you call that good. Maybe you call Good Friday Good Friday because you know what happens on Sunday.”
God didn’t even spare his own son from these terrible things, just so that he could come and be with us through them. He cares about us that much, so I will trust in him and in his plan. Even though we may not know what happens on Sunday, still waiting in the dark, God does, and he promises us that he will be in control always in Jeremiah 29:11,”For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
So, even though I don’t know his plan, waiting for the light of Sunday morning to break through, I trust that he has a plan, and it is good.
YES! The words of Job echo triumphantly over the centuries, ” I know that my Redeemer lives, and shall stand in the latter days upon the Earth. And though skin worms destroy my body, yet in my flesh I shall see God!!” All’s well that ends well. And we DO know the end of the story!