Don’t Forget God Loves.

I had a bunch of posts drafted for today. But I wanted to share this, instead.

Yesterday, a relative of mine was the victim of a pretty severe car accident.  When my mom called with the news, I learned that his injuries weren’t life-threatening, but that he was strapped to a backboard in the hospital waiting for an MRI.  We prayed.

And, I’ll be honest: I found myself pretty discouraged.

Lately it seems like every good and kind believer I know has been under attack in various ways.  Freak, life-altering accidents.  Job problems.  House issues.  Health matters.  And while I know that the world is not fair and we live under a curse and Satan attacks people and in the scope of eternity it will all be fine and all the tears will be wiped away…it’s still hard.  It’s hard to watch.  It requires me to remind myself constantly that God is loving and God is in control and there is a plan and it will all work for good and…

It’s still hard down in the trenches.

But then I got another phone call from my mother yesterday evening.  What I learned floored me: my relative had no significant injuries from the accident, but in the course of running the MRI the doctors discovered a completely unrelated condition that, left untreated in him, could have resulted in paralysis in a matter of days or even weeks.

The wreck – the “bad-thing-happening-to-a-good-person” moment that so discouraged me – saved my relative from a future catastrophe.

The knowledge shamed me, not least because it reminded me of something fundamental I had forgotten: God loves my relative even more than I do.  God is watching.  He is paying attention.  Nothing that is going on escapes His notice. And behind the scenes there is more going on than I can comprehend.

It’s easy to forget that.  Have you forgotten it?  The worse things get, the more unfair life seems, the easier it is for us to feel like we’re slogging through alone.  Yes, we “know” God is in control and that He cares and He’s in control of things, but that’s head knowledge more than heart knowledge.  Deep down, beneath our cries of why? and how long? exist a sense, however long, that God is indifferent or above our hurt or frustrations, that He doesn’t understand them, that to Him they are small and trivial.

They’re not.

Look, I don’t know where you are in your walk today.  And I don’t flatter myself that a miraculous intervention for my loved one is going to make a difference in the struggles or the unfairness you might face in your life.  But.  But. 

I wanted to remind you that He cares.  The God of fallen sparrows does not shrug off suffering.  Even from His eternal perspective, our hurts and problems matter.  He is listening.  He sees.  He loves the people you love far more than you will ever be capable of loving them.  And so, behind the struggle there is a structure.  A plan.  A mystery.

I got a glimpse at it yesterday.  Maybe you haven’t.  But that doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

Don’t forget: God loves.  Deeply.