But just as in a relationship with our children, sometimes God’s answer to me, His child, is “no,” and I don’t have to understand why. It just is. When Jonathan was born, he slept for about an hour at at time around the clock. By the time he was seven weeks old, I was exhausted. I prayed for sleep, believing that God would answer my prayer, but I continued to struggle. I thought of the verse which says, God grants sleep to those He loves. (Psalm 127:2) So I prayed for sleep. I believed that God loved me. But I wasn’t sleeping. Days and days later, I began to wonder if God really does love me; there’s that scripture! But then I thought of a good family friend who is an insomniac. I thought, “But I know God loves Tommy.” Still wondering about the, to my mind, unanswered prayer, I picked up my Bible. I never just open the Bible and put my finger on a verse. But this time my Bible opened to Isaiah and I began reading. Isaiah 40:11 jumped out at me. “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” I don’t know why God said “no,” but Isaiah encouraged me, assured me of God’s love, even if I was still sleep-deprived.
God has made it clear in scripture that He’s not a genie who makes all the bad go away, allowing His people to live in thornless rose gardens for their remaining time as Christians on this earth.
Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
“In this [the coming salvation of God] you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:6-7
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds . . .” James 1:2
Becoming a Christian is not a guarantee of no more pain or heartache. It’s imperative that we get our mind wrapped around this idea and accept it. If we believe otherwise, if we think that God will save us from all bad things, it will damage our faith in God. It will prevent us from being the useful tool that God has in mind. It will affect our entire walk, including our witness, as a Christian.