Clay in the Hands

Late yesterday afternoon, a very dear friend of mine was involved in a car wreck.  She was sitting at a stop light when a tanker truck tried to make the corner too fast and rolled over and hit her car.  She is fine, but as a I stood with her in the emergency room and listened to her relay the story to me, she said on more than one occasion: “I was just sitting there minding my own business.”

How many times are we involved in less than desirable circumstances at no fault of our own?  It happens all the time – it is a part of life.  Bad things do happen to good people.  What drives me crazy is when the commentary on these occasions sounds something like this, “Well, I guess God is testing you.”  Or, “God caused that to happen to get your attention.”

I do not propose to know or understand the mind of God, so I suppose I could be wrong, but my view of the God of scripture does not include a God who would deliberately cause injury to a person to teach them a lesson.  I believe bad things sometimes happen to good people as a result of living in a messed up, fallen world.

I also believe that what God expects us to do is rise to the occasion and handle these experiences with faith, grace and love.  Each experience is an opportunity to grow in our faith – if we allow it.

So the next time you find yourself in a less than desirable situation at no fault of your own, try to grow through it.  God will walk with you through the whole ordeal.