Have you experienced the shock of the unexpected?
I have.
In a second, in a phone call, and in the short words of a
text, my stomach has been a stone within me. That moment when I’ve not known
where my toddler is; those shaky words spoken over the miles, “It’s cancer”;
that angry red discovered weeks into a pregnancy; that splash in the pool –
each one has delivered the sickening feeling of shock.
This past weekend we experienced one of these unexpected
events which has proven to rattle me more than I would have anticipated. Here I’ve
been, skipping along through spring, feeling the weight of fog lifted a
little and WHAM! There it is. Right out of nowhere - the unexpected.
First came the anger. Like David I find myself pleading, “How
long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?”. (Psalm 13) When is enough enough? Have
I done something wrong? Have I not been obedient or trusting enough? How much adversity
can we bear up under?
But God is so good. He’s so kind to me. When I, like a child,
am focused on myself and my surroundings He lifts my chin to look on Him.
Tonight, I laid out on the trampoline, gazing at the silhouettes
of the pine trees and the big dipper beyond them. The mama goose and her
goslings were making funny, little noises at the pond while the wind rustled
the willow leaves. Not one, but three shooting stars raced across the canvas
above me.
Laying there, so small in a vast universe created by an immeasurable
Creator, my heart was filled with awe, my eyes with tears, and my whispers with
thanks.
Why? Because my unknown is known to God. It has been known before
those shooting stars were ever in the sky.
My unexpected is His expected.
And so there is only one response. The same David who pleaded, "How long", confessed:
“ … I
have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.” (Psalm
13:5-6)
I may not know what your unexpected is, friend. There are
so many events small to devastating that may have caught you and I unawares. What
I do know is that what feels like it is spinning wildly out of control isn’t. My
prayer for you and I is that we may lift our chin and remember the One who has
an intended, good purpose for each of the blindsides in our lives. May the deep-rooted
joy of our salvation be yours today, whatever comes.
Comments