“Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me, for in you I take refuge.  I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.”  Psalm 57:1

There have been many times in my life that I have questioned God as to why certain things are happening; pain, loss, harm, anger, etc.  Many of the people who I have counseled have asked the same things.  I have even heard family members and Christian friends asking why does He do these things to me?

Did you know that God actually promises us that this life is not supposed to be all daisies and roses, of course I am paraphrasing but John 16:33 states that we will have “trials and tribulations.”  It doesn’t say those who are not saved will have them or that if you are saved you will never face them again, it actually guarantees that everyone will have their own set.

Why do people believe that once they get saved nothing bad will ever happen to them again or that if they simply pray to God that He will take away every problem they are facing?  That makes absolutely no sense and here is why.  If everything on Earth was perfect we (the entire human race) would have no desire to ever desire a relationship with Him, meaning we would never want to be in His eternal kingdom.  We would not seek a relationship with Him, defeating the whole purpose of why we were created.

Our lives are planned out by Him, Who created us.  We go through hardships for many different reasons, none of which are our right to know why.  Think of it like a recipe.  You would never just eat salt in heaping bowl fulls but when a designated amount is added to a bunch of other ingredients, that the salt does not know about, it makes the most mouth-watering dish because it brings out its flavor.  So it goes with our Creator.  He knows the dish that is intended to sit upon a plate but has to combine a whole lot of things in order for it to end up delightfully served.  One day, probably not until we reach Heaven, we will see the full meal but right now be grateful salt is not the only thing that your plate will consist of.

An example I can give you of this is my husband and I have had nine miscarriages.  During that heartbreaking time in our lives I was so angry and did not understand why God would put me through it over and over again.  Many years later, I was confronted with other couples who were grieving the loss of babies and we were able to minister to them; something of which we never would have been able to do without the salt we experienced.

He has been my refuge during many a disaster and Who better to seek refuge with then the One Who is the Great Protector!