A few nights ago dear Husband watched a re-enactment of a heart-wrenching true story. He then did a fact-check of the sad story and read the documentation to me. It was heartbreaking, and it settled heavily on my heart and mind. After we went to bed, I couldn’t sleep. I ran over the facts in my head: everyone in that girl’s life had failed her since her infancy. Her father, in particular, but also her mother and brother. The state had failed her, as had the scientists who studied her. Even her well-meaning teacher had failed her. Then the big question: Did God fail her? It appeared that he had.

But then I did a fact-check of my own. Did I have all the facts of her story, including the latter part of her life? No, I clearly didn’t, since she faded out of public view and no one seemed to know her whereabouts. So I don’t know if God intervened in her life when she was ready to hear him. But the biggest fact was that the Scriptures are clear about God’s character. He cares about people, whether or not they care about him. He is compassionate and does not want people to suffer needlessly. He shows loving kindness. He knows our pain because he suffered as a man. He is trustworthy. He has the power to deliver. He knows when to deliver.

I knew this from Scripture, and I also knew it from experience. I had felt his care since childhood when my mother took me to church, and I started to learn the Scriptures. I had known his compassion at sixteen when my mother died. I had known his loving kindness my senior year of Bible school when he brought dear Husband into my life to be the faithful presence and protector I never had since my father left when I was four. God had proven himself trustworthy while adjusting to a foreign country where nothing seemed like home. He displayed his power to deliver at the right time through dear Husband’s serious illnesses. How could I possibly question God’s character?! Have you ever had doubts about the way God is running the world? Or what he has allowed in your life?

Our first mother was tempted to question God in the Garden. The devil incited her to think God was withholding something- that God wasn’t treating her right. He told her God didn’t want her to know things. He told her that for selfish reasons, God didn’t want her to be like him.
“… the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.” Genesis 3:5-6

The ironic thing is that it was God’s plan to make us like him! Eve wouldn’t have had to take matters into her own hands. The generosity of God has been plain when he gave trusting people his own Spirit so they would be wise. He didn’t keep his people in the dark; he showed them himself and his plan. Just as he is doing to this very day.
“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.” Joel 2:28

Think of an epic tale you’ve enjoyed. The whole story hinges on the character of the hero. No matter how bad circumstances get, we know that the hero will sacrifice for others in order to bring things to a right and good end. Our human tales are faint echoes of what God does for us. Jesus gave up his glorious position in Heaven to become a human baby. He grew up with constant opposition, yet taught and cured any who would come to him. He was accused of being a heretic and an insurgent, and on these false charges he was sentenced to death. Yet he didn’t resist because he was willing to offer himself to God as the ultimate atoning, perfect lamb on our behalf. His unselfish, loving character is what we count on to make things turn out right in the end. (He came back to life and lives this very moment for us!) And it’s what we count on to make it through every day.

What tempts you to doubt God’s good intention toward you? The big disappointments? The everyday grind?

A dream crushed by something beyond your control? “Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.” Psalm 54:4

 

 

 

Your strength isn’t enough for your steep trek? “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” Isaiah 40:29

 

 

 

Bars across your path? “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.” Isaiah 48:17

Your path is uncertain?  “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.’” Jeremiah 29:11

A wound still raw? “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18

Something ended before you were finished enjoying it. (Like leaves that fell before I photographed them in their glory!) “Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.” Psalm 62:8
No one to walk with you? “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Jesus words recorded in Matthew 28:20
Skies gray for too long? “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” Psalm 42:5
You finish your days frayed around the edges? “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” 2 Corinthians 12:19

What you hoped would be flourishing is going dry and dead. “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.” Isaiah 44:3

Worry rears its ugly head when you lay your head on your pillow.  “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” Romans 8:15

All photos were taken by me.