“Don’t worry–it will work out!” a friend advised.
“Or not…” I replied evenly, slightly amused. My friend meant well, but it seemed a bit comical to assume everything would eventually turn out hunky dory. I’m all for having a positive outlook, but realism is part of what keeps me positive. I know too many people mourning sons lost to heroin, too many teens with mental illnesses, too many babies with heart defects. Sometimes God rescues us from suffering, and sometimes He does not. That “Thy will be done” thing is brutal.
It’s unpleasant, and often exceedingly painful, when things can’t be figured out or can’t be fixed. Yet God is with us whether we are happy or hurting. His love is far deeper than even our most overwhelming sorrows. Yes, we’d vastly prefer to be happy, and yet when we are not, we can still suffer in His arms. He knows, after all, what it is to be wounded. He knows what it is like to be pinned to a cross. He knows.
Thus in a way, my friend is right–it will work out, at least in the very long run. Regardless of what happens in this life, we are promised that “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4) in the next. That much is easy to figure out: if we stay faithful and true, praising His name in all circumstances, there will eventually be an end to our sorrows. And it will be a very happy end, indeed.
