I had a bad day.
When I get bad days I have different responses. Sometimes I become morose and there’s little that can drag me out of a low. Sometimes I distract myself with loads of other work. There are times I even talk it through with Jesus.
As we sit and talk it through I often ask questions of Him. Questions like:
- You knew Judas was a thief, why did You let him stay on the team?
- Sticking with Judas, here’s a man who was a thief and You gave him the same assignment and enabling as the other eleven to go out and declare good news in preparation to your coming. Why did you do that knowing what you knew?
- How did you cope with your bad days?
For this blog to follow a typical happy-ending approach, this is supposed to conclude with the good news of me of how He answers all my questions and makes it alright. The truth is, there are times when I ask Him these and other questions and I get no immediate reply. Nothing.
Super friends give me Christian clichés because if you repeat words enough times it’s supposed to work. My relationship with Jesus does not work on repeating words to myself. It’s almost as if He warned against vain repetitions.
So what happens in the gap between the questions and the living? What happens is not blind faith, what happens is similar to what happens with my daughters, They don’t always know what’s going on, but they look and they wait. They remember who they are waiting on, they remember the character, they remember the relationship and they wait. Sometimes the memories of the past, gives glimmers of the light of trust for the present.
That works to a degree for daughters of a fallible man. Their dad rests on the relationship He has with a faithful God who is all about being present in good days and bad, As things work out and He guides me through the bad days and good, I trust the girls will be able to develop for themselves that kind of relationship where they can ask Him questions. And as they ask they can look to grow in their trust and dependence on Him not to have answers on tap, but to continue to be a faithful, loving and wise Father.
The bad days don’t last. Sometimes soon afterwards you get a good day and it’s as though you wonder what the bad day was all about. It’s good to chuckle in those moments, but it is all to say that there’s nothing wrong with questions as long as you don’t hold God to ransom for answers.
That sometimes helps me when I get bad days.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 