When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Isaiah 43:2-3
William Carey was one of the pioneers of the modern missionary movement as he left his native England and went to India. Eventually, Carey established himself and began translating the Bible into the language of the people he worked with. Before the days of linguists and computers, it was a long, slow process. Eventually a printer joined him, and, after years of effort, Bibles were printed. Then the process of distribution began. One day, however, Carey returned from a time of ministry elsewhere to find that a disastrous fire had broken out and completely destroyed the building housing his offices and press. But more damaging, his manuscripts, grammars and dictionaries had all gone up in flames as well. Nothing short of death could have struck such a blow.
When a colleague tearfully related what had happened, Carey reacted violently, slamming his fist on the table in anger. No, it didn’t happen like that at all. “Without a word of despair, impatience or anger,” writes a biographer, “he knelt and thanked God that he still had the strength to do the work all over again!” Instead of feeling sorry for himself, or moaning and groaning about the tragedy of so many wasted hours and days, he quietly went to work, and eventually did a better job than he did the first time.
Carey apparently hadn’t spent much time struggling with the question of “Why do bad things happen to good people?” In his excellent book, Why Us? Warren Wiersbe says, “Each of us has a personal ‘statement of faith’ and it is revealed by the questions we ask.” If Carey struggled with the issue of why God allowed that disaster, there’s no record of it.
Many of us today seem to be infected with an ideology that, in essence, contends that God owes us something, that because of who we are, bad things just shouldn’t happen to us. Naturally, I’d like to believe that because I’m a believer in Jesus Christ. I’d like to think that I’m going to enjoy health, wealth and prosperity, yet that contention flies in the face of reality. It just doesn’t work that way, and neither does Scripture support that mentality.
Your personal statement of faith is revealed by the questions that you ask of God! Long ago, God spoke through Isaiah, saying, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.” Pretty comforting, right? But then God says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you won’t be burned, for I am the Lord your God … “ (Isaiah 43:2-3).
Notice, He didn’t say, “Look, I’ll deliver you from all the rivers and the valleys, the tough times and the fires.” Rather, He said, “when you face them, I’ll be there.” The word when contains no escapes. Eventually, everybody faces the valley, and when you do, it is probably neither punishment nor Satanic attack; simply, the result of living in an imperfect, broken world.
At one time I sustained a cut on my forehead as I was working in our Guidelines studio and it required 34 stitches to close. The same day, my wife totaled our car in an automobile accident that could have been fatal. Romans 8 says, “We know God works all things for good to those who love him ….” And it doesn’t say, “We think … or understand … or we feel.” Just quietly, “We know!” And with that confidence we must rest and face life with courage.
Resource reading: Isaiah 43:1-13.
