In October, my daughter had an injury at daycare. An older child fell on top of her causing her skull to fracture in an inch above her right ear. As detailed in an early post, she was miraculously healed.
A few weeks later, our good friends the Kings, the Baptist pastor and his wife, were due to have their first child. They were the sweetest couple, so ready to have a baby of their own. I took a group of kids down to their church and we prayed with Deb. We asked for the Lord’s glory to be revealed through their child. It was a joyous time of expectation.
On November 22nd, Deb went into labor. There were complications. After some struggle, their baby was born with no brain function.
I got the news that night after my night class. I was stunned. I went into my meditation room and went into vigil mode. I prayed all night, until work time in the morning. I prayed for a miracle. I prayed for restoration. I prayed for total healing.
But after three days and no miracle, Pastor and his wife said goodbye to their daughter and turned of artificial life support.
“Why?” I asked God. “Why a miracle to save my baby and not one for theirs?” Why didn’t he answer my prayers?
I have been reading Job and I have come across some answers.
Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:
"Who is this that darkens my counsel
with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone-
while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?
"Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt'?
"Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,
that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.
The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken.
"Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.
"What is the way to the abode of light?
And where does darkness reside?
Can you take them to their places?
Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
Surely you know, for you were already born!
You have lived so many years!
We can try to blame our hardships on God, but this is foolishness. He is the Master of the Universe. He created the Earth, made it right for us. His work is so awesome that our tiny minds struggle to grasp the most basic elements of God’s design. His mysteries are so great that we cannot fathom their depth or formulate their summation.
We must live by faith, not in our own ideas of justice but surrendering to God’s will. God is the boss. He is in control. We think we are but we are deceiving ourselves. We fancy ourselves smart but He knows more than we can ever imagine. We must move our thinking away from what we’ve figured out is the best thing for our needs, and move into congruency with the Lord’s perfect will, His never ending perfect plan for our path and our lives.
God does answer our prayers. EVERYONE! Sometimes He just says “no.”
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