The Night God Had a Crisis

CBN.com - “Oh, no, Mommy! Look! Hurry and look! It’s terrible!”

The startled young Mom quickly steered the car toward the side of the road and prepared to stop, convinced something terrible was lurking in the back seat with her anxious four-year-old daughter.

“What is it, honey? What’s wrong?”

“Look, Mommy. Look out the window. God has a crisis!”

Trying to get a handle on exactly what was happening, she wondered, “What’s she talking about? I know she has an active imagination and is full of curiosity, but God with a crisis? Where did she even learn the word crisis?”

She soon realized she didn’t typically take her daughter out after dark so perhaps she saw something unfamiliar and assumed it was a problem. She had taught her young one about God’s love for them and His creativity so she supposed the bright young mind had somehow linked the two together. Trying to calm her daughter’s anxiety while attempting to understand just what caught her eye in the clear night sky, she turned to the little face wide-eyed with wonder, “Okay, honey, tell me. Just what kind of crisis does God have?”

“Look! There’s a big chunk out of the side of the moon!”

Relieved. Amused. Surprised that her four-year-old already needed a lesson on the moon’s phases, the loving Mom assured her daughter that God was not worried. He knew just what was happening and it was all part of His master design for the world.

I’ve thought about this story a lot since that little one’s Mother shared it with me. My first thought was pride in the bright mind of that young girl and her genuine concern for God. She loves Him and wants life to be good for Him, just as He’s making it so for her. Then I burst into laughter. God with a crisis on His hands: Just think!

I like to imagine God with a sense of humor and I think He must often be amused at our observations about His creation. I’d like to think that as He heard her outcry, He smiled, “Ah, that’s my little one. She loves me so. Look how she cares for Me.”

If we’re honest, we find ourselves at times feeling the same anxiety when we see things happening that don’t seem right to us. Illness. Suffering. Injustice. Conflicts. Losses. Waiting. Rejection. Uncertainties. Sometimes life flows just as we want it to with bright sunshine of the day and the full moon lighting the night sky. All is well, we think as we travel along.

Then we look up, or around, or maybe within and see that something has happened. The road we’re traveling has taken a sharp turn, perhaps to unknown places. There are bumps, potholes, rough patches, and slippery spots. We may even look around and see things missing that were once part of our experience. And we find ourselves muttering, “Oh, no. Something terrible has happened. A crisis!”

We know God is all-knowing. Nothing escapes His view or His power. Just because we define life’s twists and turns as crises, doesn’t mean He does. I believe from the depths of my being that He loves me and has my life firmly set in the palm of His hand. And, yet, I sometimes worry and even cry out in dismay, when all the while God is with me, beckoning me to draw close to Him as He assures me He has everything under control.

When He created the moon He also designed its phases and how it would interplay with the rest of His creation. When He created us, He also designed just how He wants our lives to flow and promised to be with us each step of the way. He wants us to love Him and spend time with Him. To care about what’s important to Him and enjoy His creation. And He invites us to trust Him with our concerns. Listen to what He says in His Word:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

“But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

God tells us we will not always understand what He is doing in our lives, yet we can trust in His love and His guidance, even when we don’t understand. One of my favorite scripture passages reminds us of this promise:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Next time you look up and see a chunk out of the moon, smile and rest assured that God does not have a crisis at all. And in this life filled with questions and uncertainties, as you trust in Him to care for you, aren’t you glad about that?

Copyright © 2010 Nancy Williams. Used by permission.