Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 NIV
My trusting, six-month-old daughter sat in my lap, smiling. She didn’t see the nurse behind her holding a needle, preparing to inflict pain within moments – pain my daughter would not understand and would be powerless to avoid.
I felt pain too as I realized she would likely see me as a conspirator. After all, I held her in place so she couldn’t escape. I saw it coming and allowed it. I didn’t even strike back at the person inflicting this ordeal. My daughter couldn’t possibly understand I had allowed this experience so she would be stronger, more able to combat future threats to her health.
Through my daughter’s first immunization, I realized as God’s child I too have a limited understanding of His seeming lack of involvement within painful circumstances. It’s hard to understand why this Parent sometimes prevents my escaping painful situations, allows injustice, and doesn’t strike back at those who hurt me. I often don’t understand when God allows such experiences to make me stronger, more able to combat threats to my spiritual health.
That day as I held my daughter, I hoped she would continue to trust me as someone who loves her completely, even when my actions are hard for her to understand.
Have you endured painful experiences in which God seemed silent or inactive? God’s love can be trusted even when circumstances defy understanding.
Susan Howell teaches psychology at Campbellsville University in Kentucky. She and her husband Dwayne have two children, Katelyn and Patrick. Susan enjoys writing, reading, jigsaw puzzles, and sitcoms from the 60s and 70s.
Read Susan’s devotions.
