Observation of a Toddler

Last night at house group you asked if anyone had felt like God had ever left them. I have never felt like that but I’ve often wanted to know why God allows difficult situations to happen.

Last night, my 11 month old son woke up about 3.30am – nothing unusual about that but I had a picture in my mind when I woke up. It was of a child, holding on to the hands of a parent, learning to walk (quite appropriate at the moment for me). After a while, the parent let go of the child’s hands and you could see the look of concern on his face. What the child didn’t realize however, was that the parent’s hands never left him but stayed close by, hovering around him, ready to catch him when he fell. If the parent never let go of the child’s hands, he would never learn to walk, run, jump, dance, etc.

It made me think of how God teaches us to walk. Sometimes circumstances in life are difficult, but He never tests us beyond our power to remain firm. Sometimes the child is allowed to go “bump” onto his bottom and he may shock or hurt himself a bit, but the parent would never allow the child to fall without intervening where he could really hurt himself. Once the child has his balance and can take a few steps, he is ready for the next stage of development. Isn’t that how God shapes our lives? The times that have been the hardest in my life have always been the times I have learnt so much about myself and God but usually I have only realized this after I have come through the difficulty, looking back.

This just seemed to answer my question “why?”