God is Not Absent

My older son is the most wonderful two year old boy in the world (it's a fact! You could look it up!). He is sweet, funny, and loving and I would do just about anything for him. Last night, however, my little boy wasn't so sweet. You see, we've been trying to break him of either a) sleeping in mommy and daddy's bed, and/or b) having mommy or daddy sleep in his bed with him. For over an hour I had to sit and listen to him cry. He wasn't afraid, mind you, he just wanted me in there with him, as had been our custom. Instead, I sat in a chair in the doorway to his room with my head in my hands. It wasn't easy, but in the end he fell asleep on his own and woke up in good spirits.

Why did my son cry so much? He had a perception of what I was supposed to do at night and I wasn't fulfilling that expectation. The question is, should that have been his expectation? Is it really best for him that I sleep in his bed night after night? No, I don't think it is. Part of the process of growing up is learning to do things on your own and this is one of those things he needs to do. At this stage, however, that is difficult for him to understand, no matter how much I try to tell him.

That got me thinking. How many people get angry with God mainly due to His supposed absence during their time of suffering, much like my son's experience last night? I would wager that the number is large. Many non-Christians cite this as a reason for rejecting God altogether, and Christians are not immune either. Most of us have probably wondered why God let us experience certain things, or at least we know another Christian who has.

Now, I don't want to belittle the suffering people have experienced, but we as Christians need to step back and take stock. When we cry out in the midst of our sufferings we are just like my son. We are immature and lack understanding. This is somewhat acceptable for a young Christian but those of us who have been living in the faith for any length of time should know better (in fact we do often know better, we just choose not to act accordingly). So we as Christians should take comfort in the fact that God is still with us when we hurt. We are just choosing to doubt the goodness that He already proved when He gave His Son on the cross.