Does God Purposely Hurt Us?

Does God purposely hurt us?  This was my question by the time I had missed the 4th and 5th attempts to get on stand-by flights for my return from Alaska ( to see the whole saga see Part 1 and Part 2).  I had attempted to get on the 2:07 pm to San Francisco, but was the only one refused on standby.  Next, I tried the 8:06 pm to Chicago and the 8:55 pm to Dallas.  I didn’t know it at the time, but I had only spent 21 hours on my quest to get a flight, and still had a few hours to go before I would succeed.  But true to form, God had another special devotion for me on the 2nd morning from John Piper’s book Taste and See.  The title of the devotion, appropriately, was “How to Speak about God When He Hurts Us — Eleven Truths from the Book of Lamentations.”  He makes several good points about situations that hurt us and seem to be coming from God Himself.  I did not see this devotion until after I had asked God why He wasn’t helping me.  He always has just the right Word at the right time for me.  Among other excellent points, John Piper said in the devotion:

• The hurting happens as if by God’s ‘forgetting’ and ‘forsaking’ them — “Why do you always forget us?  Why do you forsake us so long?” (Lamentations 5:20)
• The Lord will follow his hurting with compassion — “Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.” (Lamentations 3:32)
• God’s hurting us is not ‘from his heart’ — not his deepest delight – “For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.”  (Lamentations 3:33)
• In his hurting the Lord shows mercy every morning — “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)
• When God is hurting us, wait patiently for the salvation of the Lord – “It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.” (Lamentations 3:26)
• In and after God’s hurting us, he is our only hope and portion — “I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”‘ (Lamentations 3:24)

Did this prove to be true for me?  Well, let me tell you what happened in the final five hours of my day in the Anchorage terminal playing Tom Hanks.  The thought finally occurred to me — I’m not in control.  I’m not God.  I really didn’t have any power in that situation, so the true Lord (not my own schemes and plans) was my only hope, even though sometimes He doesn’t move immediately on my behalf.

What happened next?  Well, it’s really quite humorous.

I went back out of security for the 5th or 6th time to look for a restaurant.  There was no restaurant per se (only kiosks) but then I found a great place way in the back of a bar that offered calzones and sandwiches.  I set up my laptop, ordered a calzone and started checking mail.  People were breezing past me to go into a door that I assumed was for employees only.  I happened to glance up once, and who would be going past, but Jim, my husband’s best childhood friend?  I said, “Jim, is that you!!??!!” and he had the most surprised look on his face!  [As it turned out, this door wasn't for employees, but was an area that led to restrooms I (strangely) hadn't discovered on my tours of the airport].  Jim lives in Kansas, where my husband grew up.  We live in Wyoming, he lives in Kansas, and I would run into him in Anchorage, Alaska (while trapped in the airport)!

He’s been working — East of Denali National Park — for 7 weeks at a time for the last year or two, so we knew he was somewhere in Alaska, but didn’t know where.  After using the facilities, he sat down with me and we had a good laugh over the situation.  He was heading home to set up camp for the Walnut Valley Festival, where my husband, Paul, will be camping with him in two weeks.  Is this a small world or what?  Or a big world in God’s design and humor?  When it was time for our 11:30 pm flight to Denver, we both went to the gate together and continued to visit as we waited.  It was great having a friend handy to stay with my bags when I went to the restroom.  I told him I would look him up when I got on the flight, because I was certain this was what God had in store for me — a direct flight to Denver so I wouldn’t have to make any other connections before flying on to Wyoming. Then I waited for my name to be called by the gate agents.

My plans.  My hopes.  My assumptions.  But it didn’t happen.  I was “left behind” again!  God had more surprises and blessings in store for me (see Part 4).

~ by Juli Jarvis on September 1, 2008.