“God is still God even when we don’t understand his ways.”

A thought by Chris Hodge from his book, The Daniel Dilemma: How to Stand Firm and Love Well in a Culture of Compromise (Kindle Locations 1790). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

We just had one of those difficult situations where we had a severe storm come through our area and it caused mudslides and innocent people were killed.  Many people have problems equating a loving God with something like that happening.  I mean how could a loving God allow that to happen? 

Chris tells about a sixteen-year-old young man in their community who loved his family and his God but he had a brain tumor that finally killed him.  Chris says, “So often nonbelievers in our culture refuse to believe in a God who would allow someone like Sid to suffer with cancer and die so young. They can’t reconcile that a good God would allow the atrocities that they often see in our world today: natural disasters and calamitous events, birth defects and cancer, torture and genocide. But this is why our response, as Christians, to these events matters so much.”

He goes on, “We may struggle with some of the same questions, doubts, and concerns in the face of such tragedies. But this is when we must exercise our faith to the fullest. This is when we must choose to worship God and to trust in his goodness, sovereignty, and power. This is when we remind the world around us that we are not God. And even if he’s not being God the way we think he should, it doesn’t matter. He’s still God. We are the creation, not the Creator. God is still God even when we don’t understand his ways.”

Later he says, “When the unimaginable happens, we have to stop thinking, analyzing, and problem-solving and simply trust God. It’s the same kind of trust we learned as children when we questioned our parents about why we had to get a shot, take medicine, or avoid sharp objects. At the time, we couldn’t understand—and may not have had the mental development to understand—why we had to endure something so painful or forgo something that looked appealing. We had to trust that what motivated our parents’ decisions was our health, safety, and well-being. In the same way, we must trust our heavenly Father even when unbearably painful events come our way.

“We are never to weigh our thoughts, logic, and rationalization against his. When we do, we’re shifting the focus of our worship from God to ourselves. True worship happens when you don’t understand and choose to trust God anyway, acknowledging his goodness, power, and sovereignty even amid situations that defy rational human explanation. We have to trust that God didn’t get it wrong even when we can’t figure it out.”

So how has God shown you that he can be trusted?