God is powerless?
Rabbi Harold Kushner lost a son to a degenerative disease—premature aging syndrome. He later wrote the bestseller When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Trying to maintain his belief in God, he said that God is either not good enough, since he allowed the sickness, or not powerful enough to prevent it. He chose the latter. According to Kushner, God created the world but isn’t in complete control of it. In other words, God hopes for our good and sympathizes with us in our pain, but He’s powerless to do anything about it.
trust & obedience
When I was in officer training school, I was taught that I could use artillery or air strikes to neutralize enemy forces before the actual engagement of a ground offensive. The objective was to damage the enemy’s fighting capabilities, create fear, and demoralize the enemy troops before ground combat began.
lousy comforters
I’m often tongue-tied when I attend a funeral or visit someone in the hospital. As soon as I open my mouth, it concerns me that I’m sounding like one of Job’s friends. They were better comforters when they kept their mouths shut rather than when they opened them (Job 2:11-13). Their advice and consolation to Job sounded like the exact words I might have spoken. They argued forcefully and their arguments seemed so pious, leading Philip Yancey to comment: “If today we had only Job 3–37, we would judge the three friends as the true heroes of the book.” But God was angry with them (Job 42:7).
line of sight
When our son learned to shoot with a bow and arrow, I found my interest in the sport piqued by its grace and artistry. One afternoon I decided to join him in the backyard to take a few shots. Doing something that contradicted his training, I moved the bow left of the target. I knew that I couldn’t hold my…
