(Romans 8 v 38&39)
I had a call last night with my married son.
He felt "really down" because he and his wife had an unexpected crisis.
Something fairly major had gone wrong in their life.
And, it had.
Not life threatening, not fatal, not even harmful to their relationship (unless they let it).
But, trouble nonetheless.
After about 10 mins of hearing the story I made a comment
"So you're saying that you are both "down" because things didn't go according to your expectations, but no one has really suffered and no one has died-I am struggling to see what your problem is".
I could tell from the silence that I had better come up with something else fairly quickly, just in case he thought I didn't care.
So, trying to sense where he was at in his heart I said:
"Jesus never promised us freedom from trouble, son. He promised that no matter what we go through, nothing in all creation can separate us from his love".
Again silence, and then:
"You're right Dad" (relief swept over me at this point) "The problem is, I have never had any real trouble, so when something does happen it throws me.."
This exchange made me think
Because "out there" there is plenty of trouble, and as children of God we can be tempted to think we are immune.
Not so.
But we won't self destruct, and must not stay "thrown" for too long.
Unless, that is we conclude that when trouble comes along, God's love is somehow neutralised.
Or, we become separated.
Why would a loving Father desert his kids when they need him the most?
I for one need reminding that His love is more resilient than any crisis we may face, and I am probably not alone.
We need to believe this every day.
And a desperate world certainly needs to know it.