Although I’m normally a very optimistic person, of late I am becoming more and more critical of others and also more negative. I have even come to the point where I have actually begun to question God. Not the fact that He exists, but the things, at least in our estimation, He allows to occur. I see all kinds of suffering around me. I see young single moms with little or no support, I see people living on the streets and in below standard housing. I see those who can barely afford the bare necessities of life and can’t even afford to clothe themselves properly and there are those who have so much, it would take a lifetime simply to count it. More and more we see lower income folks unable to afford even the very basics of life.
It makes one wonder why and leads us to question why God would allow these things to happen to His creation.
It’s impossible for us to understand what God is up to. The truth be known, we don’t even understand what we ourselves are up to. We are motivated by self and nothing else. Our own gratification is the only thing that concerns us. If we don’t have what we consider enough of whatever we consider important to us, we are unhappy. Basically our life motivations are pretty well the same as those of a child. If we have what we want, we are happy, if not we are sad. If someone else has to suffer to make us happy, so be it.
No human knows what God is up to but we do know that His ways are not our ways and His motives are not our motives. What we are made aware of through His teachings is the fact that He is wholly motivated by love. His ways are to keep us out of harm and for our own good, but He has given us free will and that constantly gets in the way. Most of us understand that we grow the most as individuals in the tough times. True enough the tough times are far from pleasant, but the easy times offer nothing in the way of emotional growth and spiritual learning. Although tough times are hard to swallow, if we pay attention there is always a lesson to be learned.
Dian and the kids and I went to listen to Pastor Mark Hughs from the Church of the Rock in Winnipeg at the Jubilee Auditorium on Saturday and his sermon touched a cord in me. He spoke on this very thing and as an illustration he used an excerpt from the book, The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. In her book, Ten Boom tells about an incident that taught her the principle of giving thanks in all things.
It was during World War II. Corrie and her sister, Betsy, had been harboring Jewish people in their home, so they were arrested and imprisoned at Ravensbruck Prison Camp. The barrack they were in was extremely crowded and infested with fleas. One morning they read in their tattered Bible from 1 Thessalonians (Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus). Betsy said, "Corrie, we've got to give thanks for this barracks and even for these fleas." Corrie replied, "No way am I going to thank God for fleas." But Betsy was persuasive, and they did thank God not only for the horrible conditions they had to endure, but even for the fleas. During the months that followed, they discovered that their barrack was left relatively free of sexual molestation by the Germans and they were even left alone enough to be able to do Bible study, talk openly, and even pray in the barracks. It was their only place of refuge. Several months later they learned that the reason the guards never entered their barracks was because of those blasted fleas. The other barracks were not infested with fleas and they were not as fortunate.
My point is that although we don’t have a clue what God is up to and why He is putting us through trying times, He has His reasons and it will come to our good. So remember to thank Him, not only for the good stuff, but also for the fleas.
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