While praying for a dear friend’s four-year-old grandson who was
in the Intensive Care Unit in a children’s hospital, I asked God to make Jax
well and strong again. Then, I added, “If that’s Your will.”
As soon as I’d whispered those last four words, I wondered
if I truly meant them or if I’d said them merely because I knew I should.
Immediately, I recalled these words from the hymn All the
Way My Savior Leads Me: “For I know whate’er befall me, Jesus doeth all things
well.”
Thankfully, I’ve known those words (written by Fanny J.
Crosby in 1875) for many years and have often received comfort from them. For
example, once when I was lying on a cold, hard table awaiting a frightening medical
procedure that could lead to an even scarier diagnosis, those words, which I’d
often sung in church, popped into my brain; and then I knew that whatever
happened—good or bad (from the human perspective)—would be God’s will for me. I
truly accepted that. Not a smidge of doubt. Only absolute certainty.
Thankfully,
all things turned out well. But if they hadn’t, I would have still believed that
God’s way was best, that He knew what He was doing and why He was allowing
certain things to happen.
I can accept God’s will for me, but find it harder to let
God be God in the lives of those I love. Thus, when I prayed for the little
boy, I so didn’t want to give God any leeway with the outcome. I truly yearned
for Jax to be fully—and quickly—restored to health and had reluctantly added, “If
that’s Your will.”
"O Father,” I prayed. “You have shown me again and again
that You do ALL things well, even those that don’t turn out the way I hoped
they would. Forgive me for doubting You in any way. Forgive me for failing to
remember that You love this precious child, who is much loved and cherished and
cared for by his family and friends, infinitely more than they do. Help my
unbelief. Help me to fully trust You, even in this.”
And we know
that God causes everything to work together
for
the good of those who love God
and are called according to his purpose for
them.
Romans 8:28, New Living Translation
Click here to listen to the Haven of Rest Quartet sing the
song mentioned above:
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