An Unsettling Response

I met a new friend this week, and we had such great conversations. One particular conversation about children born into crisis situations due to parental choices in lifestyle really surprised me. Her comment was something like she couldn’t understand how good people struggle with barrenness, while crackheads can have one right after another! She asked how could God let that happen? My first couple thoughts were “God didn’t ‘let’ that happen, it wasn’t God fault” and the common answer, “sin”. But my heart settled on something entirely contrary to those two “standard” answers. What did my heart come to? Because God is good. Because he rains on the godly and the ungodly just the same. That doesn’t mean He makes bad things happen to good people, it means His grace and lavish love allow good things to happen to all people, good or bad. We don’t like that answer, because we want bad things to only happen to bad people and for all the good things to happen only to the good people! How little we know of God’s ways to think that, and how little do we know of God to think His ways are like ours. I’m convinced God does not love us based on who we are and what we’ve done, but on who He is and all He’s done. While we were yet sinners, he calls us His children. We would have him rain fire down on our enemies, but the bible makes it clear that without the blood of Jesus, we would all be his enemies and deserving of wrath of God. Not one of us “deserves” his favor, his grace, or his love. He shows His favor, gives His grace, and lavishes His love upon us according to who He is, not according to who we are. All the righteous requirements given to be acceptable in His sight were fully met in Jesus, once for all. And all means all.