Disbelief

The parents of John the Baptist, Zechariah and Elizabeth, had been praying for a child. These prayers when unanswered for many years. For so long they had given up hope. Then out of the blue God revealed his plan to Zechariah: he and his wife were to have a son! But not just any son - but the messenger who would pave the way for the Messiah. Zechariah responded as any man would: with disbelief. The angel promptly shut him up (literally), and taught Zechariah a lesson.

This, plus the recent north Alabama snowfall, has reminded me of my own disbelief and ingratitude toward God.

My wife loves the snow. It makes north Alabama a difficult place to live in the winter time. It gets cold enough to be miserable, but rarely snows.

Every winter we pray for snow. We might get a dusting here or there, but most years there isn't a flake.

Last year in February we were planning a family trip to Disney World. Wouldn't you know, the day of our flight the weather forecasters were predicting all sorts of winter weather. Normally we would have loved some snow - but this was just the wrong day for us. We were worried, fretting, praying the snow would not come.

God was gracious, and our flight went on schedule and without issue. But looking back, I've learned something. I had a serious lack of faith over something incredibly minor - the family vacation. I should have trusted that either God would work out our vacation, or He had something better planned for us.

God will do what He wishes to do. He Loves us, and "in all things [He] works for the good of those who love him". But His will and His ways sometimes don't make sense to us. And many times we will not see His reasons this side of Heaven.

This is all well and good to talk about getting pregnant, and going on vacation. It's easy to look on these minor inconveniences and say "You just need to have faith." But what about really bad things. People do get murdered. Children do get abused. Wars; famine; strife. Where is God in all that?

Hopefully I'll never have to find out.