Truth

I just realized yesterday that one of my kids has a big problem with telling the truth. I've been specifically praying in the last month that she would know the truth because I've noticed a tendency in her to say things like "No one cares about me" and "My life is so unfair". I know that is just a childish thing to say and I certainly said it as a child but it worried me because I know that once you start telling yourself lies, it's hard to stop. So I've been praying that God would open her eyes to the truth. Now, I realized that not only is she telling lies to herself and believing lies about herself, but she is also telling lies to me. I've talked to her about how hard it is for others (like me) to trust her once she has established herself as a liar and I pray that God will soften her heart and help her to see the truth and to live the truth.

This has made me think about how often I tell myself lies or believe lies. The lie I've been struggling with the last couple days is the lie that God is not good and God is not fair. Yeah. I know. I sound like a child. But I've been studying through Exodus- I'm only really on chapter 3 but at the end of Chapter 2, it says that God heard the cry of the Israelites and remembered them and "felt concern" for them (that's the NIV translation which is not really the best translation for this particular verse). I just have been really hung up on that. I keep thinking how God told the Israelites to go to Egypt 400 years earlier and they obeyed Him and then such horrible things happened. I think of how many people died never knowing anything but heartache and then here we are, 400 years later, and NOW God remembers them. I know the word "remember" doesn't imply that He had previously forgotten them but it still just bothered me. I kept thinking how there are so many ugly things happening in the world and so much heartache and pain and it's not fair. So many times, the ones who suffer the most are just little children. They aren't suffering the consequences of their sins but the consequences of someone elses. And I'm sure they cry out to be rescued but no rescue comes. That's hard isn't it?

I'm not saying I found an answer. I'm not sure there is one. But for a day or so I was really listening to the lie that maybe God can't be trusted. Maybe He isn't always good. But you know what? That's a lie. My life is built on the foundation that God is good and that His ways are beyond my ways and His ways are best. I can't tear that foundation out without destroying everything I believe. There are times that it is hard to believe, but then I look at the cross. I look at Jesus suffering and dying and being forsaken by His Father so I don't have to and how can I say God isn't fair and that His ways are wrong? How can I deny that He is good? Really, isn't the cross enough? Do I need any other proof that God loves His children? This whole world is under a curse. God made a way out but that way doesn't always come here while we're walking on cursed ground. I have to hope in eternity.

His mercies are new every morning. Every morning. As the sun comes up, I know God's order is still in place. I know that the enemy is fighting a losing battle. But it is a battle and there are casualties and there is pain but it's not forever. I have to cling to the truth.