“The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.” -1 Peter 3:12 NLT
Confronted with passage like this, we often think of the Lord watching over us in the sense of protecting us, and keeping us from harm. But what do we say when we do come to harm? Has the Lord looked away? Has His attention been diverted elsewhere, so that His protection slipped and we fell into misfortune? Certainly not! Consider the second part: “his ears are open to their prayers.” Certainly God hears the prayers of the righteous, and because He hears we know that He will also answer. But the answer is not always what we expect. Sometimes we receive the thing we asked for, and sometimes, as James points out, “when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong--you want only what will give you pleasure.” (James 4:3 NLT) Our requests must always line up with the will of God, and when they do not, we must accept His answer in humility. In the same fashion we must also consider that sometimes the will of God allows us to experience suffering so that He may bring about some greater good than preventing it would have allowed.
I recall, when I was a child, riding my bike along the sidewalks in front of my house, that I slipped and fell in such a manner that I skinned much of the side of my leg. The cuts were shallow but took much of the top layer of skin off, resulting in a broad wound that seeped and stung like an open blister. I remember my mother cleaning it and taping gauze to the side of my leg to cover the wound. Now, bikes are wonderful exercise and they are lots of fun to ride, but they are also by their nature dangerous things. I could have been prevented from these (and all other manner of smaller injuries) had my parents forbade that I ride one at all. Indeed any parent knows when they give a child a bike, or a pair of skates or some other such device, that it will result in many falls and scrapes and cuts as the child learns to ride, so why permit it at all? Why not spare the child the pain that will come their way? There are many reasons. One is that the joy of riding is generally considered to be greater than the small injuries that may come as a result. Another is that those same injuries are part of how we learn; doubtless as a child I would not have scrapped the side of my leg so badly had I not been attempting to ride as fast as I could across a bumpy sidewalk, and so it was a hard lesson, but a lesson nonetheless.
Looking back on the experience now, I see the injury but I don’t feel any animosity toward my parents for letting me have that bike. Indeed, I continued to ride a bike for years afterward. What I do remember, with a warm feeling in my heart, is my mother dressing the wound and making me feel better. How many of our good memories of those we love come because they were expressing their love for us in the midst of suffering? A friend whom you can enjoy an afternoon with is alright, but a friend who will visit in the hospital or hold you while you cry is a friend indeed.
Sometimes there are joys in life that open us up to the possibility of pain and suffering, such as loving someone who will pass away in time. Sometimes God allows us to go through painful experiences because he wants us to learn a lesson that we may not otherwise receive through more pleasant means, and sometimes He allows us to experience suffering so that others will learn a lesson through our example. Whatever His reasons, His heart is filled with love for us. He has never once turned His attention away from you, but is watching over you at every moment. Sometimes He is watching to protect us from harm, and sometimes He is watching to pick us up when we fall, to clean our wounds, bandage us up, and hold us tightly in His arms until the pain stops. But whatever His purposes in our lives, we should always take comfort knowing that He watches, He listens, and He cares more deeply than you or I can ever fathom.
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