My Sight isn’t Perfect – Yet

[reprinted from March 7, 2011]

Now all we can see of God is like a cloudy picture in a mirror. Later we will see him face to face. We don’t know everything, but then we will, just as God completely understands us.    1 Corinthians 13:12 (CEV)

On September 11, 2001, almost 3,000 Americans died in a single day. On January 12, 2010, 100,000 people died in the Haiti earthquake. Why? I don’t know.

An English bishop, Dr. Handley Moule, said over 100 years ago that he learned from his mother’s needlework that on the back side of the picture the threads appear tangled, like a series of mistakes. But on the right side, there was a beautiful picture.

Does God make mistakes? No. Are there events in history that I still do not understand? Absolutely. Besides the two I have mentioned at the beginning, sixty plus years later, I do not understand why millions of Jews and Christians died in the Holocaust. I do not understand why my son died from cancer or any child dies from disease or accidents. I don’t know.

I have heard theological, philosophical, and sociological explanations and, frankly, none of them work for me. They are not acceptable to me. Some would say that we live in a “fallen world” and so “bad things happen to good people”. Others would say that sin must be balanced with consequences. Jesus told His disciples that neither sin of the parents nor of the child caused blindness (John 2) so He didn’t agree with that idea.

The First Corinthian passage works in my heart and spirit. It tells me that I am a finite human who cannot grasp all of an infinite God. What I can understand will be through His Spirit to my spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10-14). The knowledge I receive from God is not a “drive-thru” answer. It is not a case of demanding an answer from God; He succinctly tells me and we’re done. Not in all the hundreds of people with whom I have had conversations about their questions for God did someone tell me that they got a complete answer on the first question. It was through building their relationship with Jesus that they slowly began to understand and gain some insight into their difficult questions.

That is the way it is happening for me, too. I have peace about my son’s death. I don’t have all the answers – yet, but I have answers I can live with now. The great aspect is that Jesus is willing to have conversations as often and repeated as many times as I want. He knows that our relationship will grow as we talk.

So if you or someone you know has questions for God – tell them to keep asking! As long as they want to talk, yell, cry, in some way have communication with Jesus, He will come to meet with them. That is what an awesome parent does. I have learned that in my own life and I leave that testimony with you today.

Open the Eyes of My Heart written by Paul Baloche and sung by Michael W Smith