Not everything that happens to you is God’s will.
Don’t forget the obvious:
There is still sin and error in this world—
Things that he himself warns against—
Things that even common experience in this world
Warns against—
Things that those who harm us know—
Or should know—are wrong or foolish,
Because they would hate it
If others should do those things to them.
So remember:
God letting it happen to you
Is not the same thing
As God wanting it to happen to you.
And it’s not the same thing as God
Using it to punish you, either.
It could well be the fact that
You do not deserve it
And that God did not
Sanction it.
And if you should get mad
And want to question why God
Didn’t keep it from happening to you,
Just remember that you yourself
Have been given the latitude in life
To commit sins and errors that have
Hurt other people dearly—
And God didn’t stop you, did he?
So let us pause and reflect on how
It seems to be the nature of this world
That we must suffer at each other’s hands
From time to time,
Whether much or little—
While we are also generally about the business
Of choosing for ourselves in this life
Whether we will be the sort to do harm to others.
And really, what better lesson
Could there be for us
Than to live in a world
In which we can constantly see
The evils of which our kind
Are so readily capable?
Some will see it,
And give careful thought
To their own ways,
Being convicted
About their shortcomings—
While others will not.
And I think that this is
The difference between us
That life on this Earth
Is supposed to reveal.
It is, perhaps, a mystery
To our immature minds
Why God thinks it’s a good idea
To put us here in this beautiful-ugly world,
But if we keep eyes open,
Both without and within,
I think we can pretty much
Figure it out.
