I had two other items I was going to blog about this evening. Then I read a post from my son. He is in Haiti on a short term mission trip, doing basically whatever they ask of him. Today he worked in a refugee camp building “tarp houses”–pretty much what it sounds like, but apparently able to hold back the weather expected to come within a few weeks.
Today, he mentioned a 4 year old boy he met. The boy told him he was thirsty. Because of the scarcity of water, and the danger of rioting, he had to say “no”. Josh has a 4 year old boy at home. You can guess how he felt.
I hurt. For the boy. For the boy’s family (if he has any). For my son, who loves kids and is heart broken over what he couldn’t do. How can such things exist?
This is where we usually blame things on God. We’re angry, frustrated, outraged–and if we really understand–guilty.
We caused this to happen. Sin not only caused us to fall, but creation itself–including earthquakes.
Our sin.
My sin.
And God? What of God?
God hurts too. Jesus wept at the results of our sin. He got frustrated. He begged us to repent, to turn to him.
That didn’t work. He had to do something else to give us a chance.
He hurt so much for us he did what he had to do–and he was able to do it.
I don’t totally grasp this. I don’t have to. I just have to know it’s true.
And know this is the only way I can get past what we have done to ourselves and each other.
We have hope because God cries.
