The baffling bush

A friend and I have been going round and round about some of God's ways: Why do children suffer? Why will so many be lost (Matthew 7:13)? Doesn't His heart break like ours about all the clueless people around us? Why do we pray and sometimes not hear an answer immediately? Why does He let us squirm?

As you can see, give this line of thinking its head and soon you have worked yourself into a lather of accusations of God.

This morning I was taking my usual walk, and came upon a shrub or tree that arrested my attention. It was no more than 8 feet tall and was evidently some kind of conifer, with leaves like a northern white cedar perhaps, bearing flat sprays and tiny, scaly leaves. That is, except for one single branch whose leaves were utterly different in shape and color. I visually traced the leaves to the branches and the branches to the trunk, and I could discern no difference in the looks of the branches.

The shrub was just one of thousands of trees in the cemetery, and by no means a prominent of showcased specimen; it was easy to overlook.

But it was enough to make me stop and think: If I cannot even understand how that tree got to be hybridized, or why, then how can I stand in judgment over God's ways? It was as if God said to me, as to Job:

"Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? … I will question you. … Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding …" (Job 38:2-4).

Regarding the perennial question of the suffering of children and the lost multitudes, I have to remember that Christ knew all that. And it is very interesting to me that He never apologizes. He tells His disciples ahead of time that in the end times there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes (Matthew 24:7).

So there is Jesus, our tenderhearted Lord, peering down the corridor of time and seeing the sufferings of children and teeming millions-and not unnerved or embarrassed or defensive in His trust of the Father. He knew something we don't know. And as for me and my friend, ours is a call to a radical trust-and at every point to put His Word above our feelings, and the sight of our eyes, and the reports of men.