When You See Life Shatter, Know God's Love

God could have prevented my miscarriage, but He did not. Why did He allow this?

It is one thing to trust that God loves you deeply and passionately. It is a belief that can strengthen and inspire you amid discouragement and minor setbacks.

Yet, it is another thing to believe that God is all-powerful. It is a truth which many Christians wrestle with daily. Sure, it is comforting at first. God is in control—we want to put that on bumper stickers and cross-stitch it on decorative pillows.

Why Did God Allow This?

But what about when there is another mass school shooting? Only it is not at some other high school. It is at your child's.

What about when there is a factory explosion? Only it is not overseas. It is where your spouse works. What about when there is a horrible car accident? Only it is not someone else's family that does not come home. It is yours.

Abruptly, that beautiful belief that God is powerful now hurts. Because He did not intervene, He did not stop this. He stood by and let it happen.

The One who formed the Universe did not keep that car from slamming into your family. The One who set up the stars by name allowed your baby to be born deaf and mute. The One who breathed life into each human being did not prevent your son from putting an end to his own life.

Would the Answer Change the Pain?

God, as sovereign and loving as He is, could surely answer all of your questions. He could part the heavens at this moment, come down and explain everything if He chose to.

And indeed, some have gone through trauma and attest that God revealed His purpose to them in their tribulations.

But even if God offered you a complete explanation, the truth is, the answers would not change your pain. You see, understanding something intellectually does not alter your emotions. It does not heal your heart. It does not put the shattered pieces of your life back together.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus knew why He was just about to face a gruesome death. Jesus grasped that this was God's perfect plan of redemption. And He knew that His death would accomplish the saving of millions of lives.

And yet, the human part of Jesus grappled with this heartbreak. Hear how His cries echo ours in Mark 14:36 KJV, ^"And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt."

In Luke 22:44 KJV, the writer points out that Jesus is not just suffering mentally and emotionally in the garden. His pain is so intense, it is affecting Him physically, "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

God Hears and Loves You

In our fallenness, it sometimes seems that God is hiding in our moments of crisis. But, Scripture describes the faithful not as those who never had troubles but who shouted to God during crises.

These people faced the most significant times of trouble and days of distress. God heard the cries for help. He was not deaf then, nor is He today, to the voices of His people, especially in a crisis.

When we come before Him, we can believe that God has heard. He has attended to the voice of our prayers (Psalm 66:19). And yet God hearing does not mean He always, or even typically, answers how and when we expect or want.

God will answer with the response we need, as painful as it may be today, for our ultimate good and glory.