Many have asked the question, ‘Why does God let bad things happen to good people.” Our life on earth is by its nature sometimes pretty dangerous. Just leaving the house and driving to work or shopping can be dangerous as we operate our vehicles in wild and crazy traffic.
The many illnesses and diseases that we can experience in our lives can many times be much less than a ‘bed of roses.’ When I was diagnosed with a brain tumor, my reaction was not to blame God, but to seek His presence in my life threatening condition.
In seeking His presence, I felt an overpowering comfort through my surgery and recovery. God removed my fear of dying as I knew I would be with Him in Eternity. We must trust Him no matter what happens to us, to our loved ones and to our friends.
We hear St. Paul’s message to the Romans, in chapter 8:35-39: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The question for us here is: How much do we desire to experience the love of God? St. Paul reminds us that we cannot be separated from it. It is through our faith that we can experience the joy of his love. We must trust God.
I was returning home from a very long trip one day. The trip home required my flying on five different aircraft. On the last leg of the long journey, our big jet plane was poised at the end of the runway waiting to take-off. We were cleared for take-off and our pilot engaged the engines.
As the plane came close to the point of lift-off from the runway, the pilot shut down the engines and put on the brakes. One of the engines was not powering-up enough for a successful take-off. We returned to the terminal and after three hours of maintenance, we all got back on that plane and took-off successfully.
It took faith in something or someone for all of us to get back on that plane and try again. We had faith in the pilots and the mechanics. Many times, however, we don’t trust God with our lives as much as we trust humans. I understand that God loves the pilots, the mechanics and the passengers equally and that we rely on each other. But do we trust God first in all that we do?
Every day we live must begin and end with the knowledge that God loves us and is there for us in all that we do. We must reject our egotistical nature and turn to Him and accept His love. It takes a tremendous trust and faith to do this. This is our continuing challenge.
If we accept Paul’s notion, “nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord,” then the stage is set. We can dismiss all the interference’s and get down to loving God and experiencing His love and grace. It is through this faithful life that we can serve Him and help win others to Him.
I pray: Father God, Help me to see that there is nothing that can come between Your love and me. Help me, I pray, to overcome my need to control things. My control habit gets in the way of my experiencing Your love that is there for me all the time. I desire to see You in all things. Please help me clear my vision. In Christ’s name I pray. AMEN.