My Dark Night Of The Soul

Thursday, December 08, 2005

"My Dark Night Of The Soul" is the title of an article by Chuck Colson that I just finished reading in Christianity Today. He relates how his son had surgery for bone cancer; a week later his daughter was discovered to have Melanoma; his wife had knee surgery and he was having problems with a former employer. He wonders why God is allowing all of this. The article ends with him knowing that God is good, faithful and sovereign even if he doesn't understand why He allows certain things to happen.

Word came last night that a young friend in California will soon die of cancer. She has suffered a long time and now as she is closer to death her suffering has intensified. Why? How can God allow a lovely, young lady and those who love her, to go through this? I don't know! I have never known. I have lost track of the number of funerals I preached during almost fifty years of preaching. I didn't have the answer for all those who suffered then---I don't have an answer now.

It's not that I do not know anything. Like Chuck Colson, I know that God is good. In the mystery of God's unfanthomable will, we can never explain or fully understand. So we should not try to grasp every thread of His plan. We will only become more frustrated and even bitter. Nothing touches your life that has not passed through God's hands. He is in full control. And because He is, He has the sovereign right to permit things we do not deserve.

I didn't have the answers as a young man. I don't have the answers as an old man. But as an old man I do know that the Father knows what is best and He cares. Does He care? YES, HE DOES! And right now, for me that is enough.

I'm praying this morning for all those who are suffering in anyway. My God bless you by folding you closely in His marevelous arms of grace.