When Life is Hard to Understand by Helen Grace Lescheid

Do you sometimes wonder why bad things happen to good people? Are you confused by what’s happening in your life? Do you wonder where is God in all this?

We have been conditioned to think of God as a doting parent whose function is to shield us from unpleasant circumstances. No wonder we are disappointed. The Bible clearly teaches that God sometimes acts in severity. C.S. Lewis describes these actions of God as His “severe mercy.”

Listen to these Bible verses: “For they persecute those you wound and talk about the pain of those you hurt” (Psalm 69:26).

“Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction” (Isaiah 30:20).

Notice, it wasn’t insensitive people, nor my own shortsightedness, nor the devil who gives the afflictions, but the Lord. Because He chooses them, they are carefully and lovingly measured to suit my person. Furthermore, there is a design, a redemptive purpose to what He chooses to bring into our lives. “The LORD binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted” (Isaiah 30:26) God is very much involved in everything that happens to us.

I find great comfort in a balanced view of God: a parent wiser than I am (Isaiah 55:8); a God who cannot be manipulated by me or anyone else. God loves me enough to bring trials into my life that will grow my character and give me a deeper understanding of Who He is.

True, some hardships do come my way because of my own failures, selfish persons, or Satan’s strategies, but no matter, God is involved and His loving plan will be carried out. Job came to this conclusion at the end of his long ordeal. “No plan of yours can be thwarted,” he said. (Job 42:2)

Father, thank you that You work all things together for good in my life. I want to trust you more.