Daily Devotionals

'Every Day Light' with Selwyn Hughes

Devotional: August 26th

For Reading and Meditation:
     Ecclesiastes 8:16-17

The sooner we come to terms with the fact that there are things which happen in life for which there is no adequate explanation, the better we shall be. I have seen people almost drive themselves insane by insisting that God was honor-bound to give them a clear answer or explanation for some dark or difficult situation into which they were plunged. Now it is not wrong to desire answers from God, but as I have said before, when those desires escalate into a demand - we head for trouble. Some things that happen here on earth defy explanation. We must accept that and live with it. Life "under the sun" will always be a puzzle or, as Winston Churchill put it when trying to negotiate with Communist Russia: "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." Just remember that the missing pieces of every puzzle in your life are in the hands of the One who put this universe together in the first place. Derek Tidball tells the story of a small boy who was bullied by some other boys because they said his father was a Frankenstein who put people to sleep, cut them open, took out parts and put in others. The boy's father, of course, was a surgeon. The little boy, however, was untroubled because he knew and trusted his father and was aware that even though he could not understand why his father did the things he did, he would not be involved in anything that was evil or bad. It is the same with God.

O Father, help me drop my anchor into the depths of this reassuring and encouraging revelation - there is a good reason for everything You do. May I trust You even when I cannot trace You. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.