Why we are not angry with God

In the last week, we have marked the realization of each loss, small and great, with its own set of tears.  We will miss our much-loved trip to Campus by the Sea on Catalina Island.  We'd planned to go camping in the Sierras, the first camping trip as a family.  Steve won't be able to work on the house and yard at all this summer.  He has suffered much at the loss of being able to go to work at present.  He's grieved over the loss of control over his body.  I've grieved to see my strong husband need help just to move his feet in bed.  We've grieved over our family being all together under one roof.  We have strong hope that he will be able to walk, but there are no guarantees.

But we are not angry with God.  It's actually a very natural thing to feel, but it isn't something we have struggled with.  To understand why, it's important to understand who God is, what parts of his character he's revealed to the world.  We know him to be completely sovereign over the world, having created it and having complete knowledge of how it should best be run, even as it stands in its broken state.  (Hopefully more on the broken state of the world in another blog post.)  We also know him to be completely loving.  He did not look at Steve last Friday and push the "smite" button.  We don't know why he allowed this to happen, but we know it is not because he is vindictive, petty or cruel.  We also strongly believe that God has complete control over how this wrong will be ultimately set right, how it will reflect God as the ultimate good, and how he will use it to bring about many things small and large that are a part of his plan.  We have complete trust in this, not because it is a crutch or a nice imagining that gets us through things, but because when everything is said and done, it is the absolute truth.  It is, or it is not.  And we believe that it is.

Once when going through something difficult with our daughter, another mom in a similar situation said, "Well, I guess God never gives us more than we can handle."  Actually, he does.  This isn't something that we were specially equipped to handle.  This goes way beyond what we can handle. But God in his grace gives/allows what we can NOT handle, and then gives us everything we need and more to be able to handle it.  I have watched each detail fall into place in ways that I never could have orchestrated myself or been able to ask for.  The Love of God has just gushed out at every turn, with every email that comes to us saying that you care or that you are praying.  How could I be angry at a God who has used hundreds of ways to show me that he loves me and is caring for me?

To God be the Glory, great things He has done.