“God must still see the world as good, or He would not allow it to continue its existence.” (Hubert Van Zeller).
Bad things happen. Sometimes terrible things happen. Sometimes things that are so terrible that one cannot even imagine them happen. And when this happens people can become so overwhelmed by the terrible things that have happened in their life that they can ask themselves all sorts of questions…
Before my little niece was born her parents were told that she would have a heart condition that would require serious and extensive medical intervention.
At the time the doctors tried to convince my sister that the quality of her daughter’s life would be so greatly reduced that it would be impossible for her to enjoy her life in any way. Life would be – according to them – a series of trials and tribulations and suffering and hardship and problems.
Now, when this little girl was born, it is true that she suffered a great deal. After all, open heart surgery when you are just a few days old is nothing to sneeze at. But that terrible suffering lasted about six weeks. Six weeks is about forty-two days – in other words, my little niece suffered (as did her parents) for the same amount of time that Christ remained in the wilderness. It was the same amount of time that we spend offering sacrifices and fasting during Lent each year. It was forty-two days in total.
Now, I am not saying that life was perfect following those first forty-two days – but I am saying that life became continuously better. I am not saying that there is no risk of another forty-two days of suffering at some point in the future (because there is). But what I am saying is that great evil existed for a short time and even despite this, great good has come of it. You see, by allowing that evil suffering in having her baby, my sister also made way for the good of that child’s life and for her impact on the world.
Hubert Van Zeller wrote in “The Mystery of Suffering”, “The weight of evil in the world seems overwhelming. We feel it everywhere and our effort to resist is smothered. But God does not see things in this way. God must still see the world as good, or He would not allow it to continue its existence. He prefers, so Saint Augustine tells us, to draw good out of evil rather than not to permit any evil at all.”
And I have been thinking about that today. For just as my sister accepted the forty-two days of suffering waiting for her child to be treated and recover, so too does God endure the consequences of sin. And He keeps the world right where it is because He know that there is such goodness that can come from it – even despite the suffering. And I have been thinking about that today, as I have been thinking about my God. For it seems to be today, that I have fallen in love with Him all over again, just realising that!
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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