PHOTO PRAYER 2024-04 —
Once you start wondering why things go wrong, sooner or later you will ask why an omnipotent God allows terrible things to happen. An answer I dislike is that God works in mysterious ways, that while individual or even historical tragedies seem bad, they are part of a greater good we cannot see.
Rather than say that God is good and that every thing bad is actually good, I want to say something else. I want to say that bad things happen and God redeems them. Bad things are actually bad, but God is actively redeeming them. If we are on God’s side, if we are looking for God’s will to be done on earth as in heaven, we will seek to be part of that redemptive work. God is actively offering us redemption, wants us to be better, wants our lives to be better, and wants us to participate in redemption.
Recently. I busted my left hand. This was not a good thing but I am eager to see how God might be redeeming the incident. That means looking for the ways God is active in my life as I let my left hand heal, as I welcome the help and curiosity of others, and as things are left undone — not only because I only have one hand and do fewer things slower, not only because I need rest, but because, having been given two breaks, I am taking a break.
Photo of the author’s broken hand tightly wrapped in bandages. Photo and text copyright 2024 by Danny Nelson Schweers.
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