I admit my mind often goes to dark places. My imagination
gets the best of me, especially when I worry about my daughter. The other day,
my friend and I discussed how we had felt helpless when we desired children and
couldn’t have them, but now that we have a child, we feel vulnerable. Our child
is the weak link in our armor. We find ourselves sometimes fretting unnecessarily
about losing our child.
On the fourth of July, I saw a firework explode in the sky
not too far from my car as I drove home from my friend’s house. We had just had
the above conversation. I suddenly pictured in my mind a reckless teenager (or
adult for that matter) shooting off a firework in the wrong direction, and it
crashing through the back side window, hurting, if not killing, my little
angel. I know, right? Dark.
On my way to Dexter to see my dad, horror upon horror seized
my thoughts. I imagined a tornado coming out of nowhere (well, there was a
storm ahead) with me pulling over, grabbing Kayla from the car, and ducking in
a ditch off the side of the road. The story ended with my decapitation. Further
down the road, I saw a semi truck swerving suspiciously and my imagination went
crazy again: The truck driver loses control
and flips. I try desperately to stop in time but fail, smashing my car into the
side of the truck. I’m near death but Kayla is unharmed. Strangers come and
call 9-1-1. My phone is dead (and it actually was at the time), so no one knows who to call. Kayla is
shipped off to a foster family while my family frantically seeks answers.
You might be thinking, “Silly, Becca, these things won’t
happen to you.” Why not? What makes me so special that I get to escape such
calamities? Let’s move closer. What makes you
so special?
Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 states, “I have observed something else
under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the
strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry,
and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t
always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the
right place at the right time. People
can never predict when hard times might come. Like fish in a net or birds in a
trap, people are caught by sudden tragedy.”
James warns against the evil of boasting about tomorrow in James
4:13-17. He states in verse 14, “Why, you do not even know what will happen
tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and
then vanishes.” Proverbs 27:1 says, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do
not know what a day may bring.”
So, what do we do? Look over our shoulder at every corner?
Let fear grip us until we choke? Heavens no! We take comfort in the fact not a
sparrow falls dead without God’s knowledge (Matthews 10:29). We take comfort in God’s sovereignty. He
might, no, will allow times of misfortune.
Look at Job…ouch! But nothing that happens in our life is a surprise to God. He
is watching over us, carrying us through it. He loves us and gives us strength
and peace (Psalms 29:11).
So, praise God for his sovereignty!! He will see us through
anything that may befall us!
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