SUNDAY: Bible Study - 9:00 AM | Worship - 10:00 AM | PM Worship - 6:00 PM WEDNESDAY: Bible Class - 7:00 PM ~ 8110 Signal Hill Road Manassas, Virginia | Office Phone: 703.368.2622

black_racer_big            So I gave the hand of another daughter in marriage three weeks ago.  My eldest daughter was married last year and so I knew already the blessing of handing over the trust God gave Teresa and I to a man we love, respect and trust ourselves.  And yet, discharged of that trust is not to be discharged of worry.  Johnny and Julia safely arrived back in Oklahoma City after a 3 day journey – but I was worried the entire three days.  So many things can go wrong, and they are so young.  I was more than a little irritated at it all – not at myself for worrying, but that I still had to – that I worry not less, but more as my ability to affect events diminishes.  I have to admit there are times I resent having to worry.
            I was taught early on not to rely on things God never promised.  My grandmother and grandfather used to enjoy the Blue Ridge Encampment at Asheville, North Carolina.  They went with several mature couples from our congregation, and my grandma was famous for not taking some of the hikes, or walking places at night because she was afraid of snakes.  When asked where her faith was, she replied – “If you will show me in scripture where God promises that I won’t be bitten by a snake at the Blue Ridge Encampment, I’ll gladly believe it and come along.”  I used this argument several years later on a back road in India when rolling blackouts made it impossible for me to get the next appointment by car.  My driver, Pasha, (a Muslim) forbade me from walking because of the cobras in that area.  My host asked – “but where’s your faith, Brother?”  To which I replied, “If you can show me in scripture where God promises…….”
            The thing is, there are promises He doesn’t make that I wish he would have.  The biggest is that if we remember our children in prayer he will take care of them.  By “take care” I mean to protect them from harm, disease, and heartbreak.  This he never promises - which is not the same thing as saying He doesn’t do these things.  Every good thing we have we have from Him (James 1.17).  My own children walked away from a terrible automobile accident – I know directly that God protected my children that day – praise him for it!  But what about those four children in Texas struck by a student truck-driver on a rainy day near San Antonio?  Why didn’t they walk away?  Why doesn’t God promise that children loved, cared for, and prayed for won’t be killed by a semi on a rainy day?  And then there are the sick children, the children with cancer, the neglected children, and the abused children.  I am not accusing God in any way -  he never promises these things will not happen.  But why doesn’t he promise it?
            I was thumbing through one of those Bible Promise books the other day which list the promises God does make in scripture, looking for one I’d gladly trade for a promise which would keep me from worrying about my kids.  I couldn’t find one.  There isn’t a single promise we could survive without.  I thought we could probably trade the promise that God would never destroy the world by water again, though it would mean never again seeing a rainbow – he’s going to destroy the earth anyway, and I guess water’s no worse than fire.  But that guess is based upon ignorance, not information, and God never offered to swap anyway.
            We are told to pray in faith (James 1.6), or not to pray at all.  Is it wrong to pray that God will protect our children when we know there is a possibility they will be hurt anyway?  “Thy will be done” is so hard to say heartily when it involves our children. 
            These things I do know: Our kids were God’s before they were ours (Psalm 127.3, Jeremiah 1.5); His capacity to know and to love is exponentially greater than ours (Isaiah 55.8-9, I John 4.7-10); His great concern is not that our children arrive safely at Oklahoma City, but that they arrive home to Heaven (II Peter 3.9); whatever happens God is with us (Psalm 23.4, Matthew 28.20); and that our ignorance is vast (I Corinthians 13.12).  I believe in God’s love, power, presence, and grace.  I believe in my own ignorance.  And so I will continue to pray, and to worry.

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