“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
JOHN 16:33
It had been a hot, dry summer, so when lightning struck and forest fires began burning, no one was surprised. In the high mountains, fires raged close to a Christian youth camp. Everyone had been safely evacuated, but the lodge and cabins were threatened. Word went out to the churches in the area, and prayers surrounded the lodge for protection. When the danger had passed and the camp staff and U.S. Forest Service officials were able to get back to the camp and assess the damage, they found that everything—trees and buildings—had burned down except for the lodge. A tree at the corner of the lodge had been destroyed, and just a few scorch marks were seen on the building. But to their amazement, the lodge stood undamaged.
We are so grateful when God intervenes and gives the protection or healing that we have asked for. Yet we have all known situations where we prayed, perhaps even fasted or asked others to pray, and the result was not what we hoped for. No miracle occurred. Our hopes were crushed.
In Romans 9, Paul writes, “What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy” (vv. 14–16). The truth is, we can’t always know the “why” in life.
What we can rely on is that God loves us. He hears our prayers. And He will walk with us through every situation, whether it brings heartbreak or miraculous protection.