February 21, 2024
“I’ve never had a big tragedy in my life—never really had to depend on God. I mean, sure, I prayed and I saw God work—but not like this. I never had the need to rely on God, to truly just fall and rest on him. When I needed God’s comfort, the image in my head was me clinging to Jesus and him hugging me. My image now is me just completely collapsed, and him carrying me …”
— Emily as quoted in a book by the late Rev. Timothy Keller
The absolutely wonderful thing about God, which many of us discover — many of us who have ignored him, is that just when our world is falling apart, just when everything is collapsing, just when we think there’s nowhere to turn, we walk around a corner … and God’s there waiting for us.
How is that possible? How does that happen? God has his ways and they’re inscrutable to us humans. But his ways work. All too often we don’t turn to him until, to use an old cliche, “the chips are down.” But that is when he seems to do his best work because we’re the most vulnerable and receptive to his help. We’ve usually reached the point where we realize we can’t do it alone.
The other truth, which many of us experience when we’re at the end of our rope, is that God makes things better, but usually it will take time for us to put the pieces of the puzzle together and realize the many occasions when he put the people we needed in our path or gave us hope just when we thought all hope was gone. This painting titled “Forgiven” by Thomas Blackshear says everything we need to know.
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