When God Doesn’t Make Sense
Today I was reading in Genesis 22 and, though I’m familiar with the story, I was struck by these three words: “God tested Abraham”. As I kept reading I imagined how it must have knocked the wind out of Abraham when God gave the details of His command. It just didn’t make sense! Why sacrifice the son of promise? Abraham has waited and faithfully believed God for years. And now that he finally had his son - this fulfillment of the long-awaited promise - God tells Abraham to kill him??
Perhaps the story struck a nerve today because of a conversation I had earlier this week with a friend. She was sharing with me about a situation in her life that just doesn’t make sense. She struggles to see how God could be using something that seems so “anti-God” for His glory. She knows God is up up something, that He’s bringing good, but it is difficult for her to imagine what that would even look like or why God would allow such pain in the process.
Personally, the circumstance that has brought me to the Lord many times asking these same questions is walking the road of Alzheimer’s with my mom. She is so much a shell of her former self and there is no gaining ground back in this disease once it has been taken, so I often ask God, “Why don’t you just take her home? What good could you possibly be working in her life??” Alzheimer’s is such a horribly sad disease. Most days she can hardly connect with people who are face to face with her. It’s as if she’s a shell of her true self. Her body is here and looks similar, but the real her is buried deep in there. Is it even possible that she could be learning lessons the Lord is teaching her? “What’s the point of living in a broken-down body when she could be whole and complete in Your presence, Lord?”
But each time I bring these questions to Him, He reminds me that He is working in ways I can’t possibly see. Mom now lives in a wonderful facility in town and we are able to visit her everyday. Her presence there opens up new opportunities for our family to share the hope that we have in Jesus with the staff and other families who may not know Him.
As James tells us, trials produce perseverance in us. Perseverance produces faith. As we walk through circumstances too difficult for us to handle, we become more desperate for the Spirit’s leading in our lives. As we become more dependent on Him, we become more like Him. My dad, myself, and both my sisters have had the chance to do this as we look to the Lord for the care of my mom. So this suffering that seems so pointless because so much of her mind has faded, is really being used by the Lord to bolster our family’s faith. And the way He changes each of us through it will then be reflected in our lives and, in one small way or another, passed on to others as we share of His faithfulness and nearness to us through these hard years.
So while it may seem absurd, arbitrary, or pointless to allow my mom to remain lost within herself and, for the most part, shut off from those who love her and have shared life together with her, God does in deed have a purpose.
When God asked Abraham to do what sounded absurd and pointless, he obeyed. He trusted God enough to do that which God had asked of him. And of course, we know that God made good out of that situation. Through this story we are reminded that God has plans we don’t know about and we can trust that His way is always best.
So today I find comfort in those words: “God tested Abraham". They remind me that God may lead us down paths that don’t make much sense from our vantage point, but we can always trust that He knows what He’s doing. We can trust Him fully.
Every joy or trial falleth from above,
Traced upon our dial by the Sun of Love;
We may trust Him fully all for us to do;
Those who trust Him wholly, find Him wholly true.
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed;
finding as He promised perfect peace and rest.