DOES GOD ALLOW DIFFICULTIES?

When reading Romans 2:14-16, my thoughts went to a lovely lady I know.

She is small in stature, but huge in heart! She is always willing to help someone whether its family or neighbours, if she can help- she will. She always goes the *’extra mile’ when helping and puts others before herself.

She is quite a strong personality. If she thinks you’re wrong, she will say so, but she doesn’t hold it against you if you don’t take her advice. If you upset her, and you say sorry, she will forgive completely and never hold a grudge. She is the most amazing woman, strong, loving, caring. I have often prayed for her and her lovely husband, yet she has never believed in God. She says, “How can there be a God when so many children and babies suffer?” I have never been able to answer that sufficiently because it seems a fair point. Saying that he has a plan and has sent Jesus to save us, somehow, does not explain fully enough. People, children and babies are still suffering terribly, it feels so cruel, yet all I can say is, “I trust in God to put things right.” I believe with my whole heart that Jesus will sort it all out at the right time, it just seems too long to wait sometimes, especially if you are the person suffering. So, I can fully understand her point of view.

Anyway, what I wanted to say is, recently, this lady has been very unwell with Covid. She has often been ill throughout her life, but this was different. She told me she felt so ill that she was saying to the nurses, ”let me die.” Then she said, “I kept saying, “just let me die Lord,” “Lord, just let me die, I don’t want to go on.”  

I know it sounds harsh, but my heart leapt for joy and I thanked God for her. I didn’t say anything to her because it didn’t feel like the time to say it, but I thanked God for her salvation.

In that moment I was so happy for her. Hopefully, if its God’s will, I will get the chance to speak to her in more depth. If not me, then someone else. I am sure her prayers were heard and that’s why she survived. She has been one of those people in the verses above, that do the right thing naturally, because, even though she is not perfect, her heart is full of goodness, so her nature follows her heart.

Sometimes it takes something really tough to handle to make us reach out to God. Maybe he allows us to reach rock bottom, because that is the only time when we will even consider turning to him for help – when we have no-where else to go, and no-one else able to help us even if there is somebody willing to.

I wondered if sometimes God allows things to happen to see if we will turn to him? I don’t know, I may be on the wrong track there, but sometimes, even though these times of extreme difficulty are horrible and hard to bear, they can be the beginning of our salvation.

I thank the Lord for reaching out to those in extreme hardship, and I pray that in their suffering, they will turn to God, that their troubles will be removed, and their lives will be completely turned around.

In Jesus name, Amen.