Things Aren’t What I Think

I am still in the waiting time. I got two disappointments this week and felt discouraged. I had to remind myself of the facts: God loves me, God has heard my prayers, and God knows our need. At times, it’s not easy. As I was feeling discouraged this week, a story popped in my head that tells my story right now.

Meindert de Jong writes a book called, “The House of Sixty Fathers.” It’s a story about a young Chinese boy separated from his parents during the Chinese civil war. He’s lost and can’t find his way back home. An American airman finds the boy and brings him back to his station with sixty airman. (Thus the title).

The part of the story I remember is when the boy is brought back to the barracks. Both the airman that found him and the boy learn to sign to each other and seem to become friends. When the airman comes back with the boy, he sits him on a bed. The boy is so hungry his stomach hurts. Another airman, comes in with a huge tray of food, to bring to the boy. The boy sees it and gets so excited because he’s been slowly starving to death. As the airman approaches the boy with the tray of food, the airman that brought him steps in front of the approaching airman and stops him from delivering the tray of food to the boy. The boy can’t understand English. He becomes extremely angry at his “friend,” for stopping the food. He starts to cry loudly. He can’t understand why his so-called friend would take away the food from him. He wants to hurt the airman, like he feels hurt. He’s so confused as to why the “friend” would want to hurt him in this way.

What the boy doesn’t understand, is that the “friend” knows he will get violently sick if he eats the food, the other airman brought him. Because he’s been starving, he has to eat very little, to get used to it. And probably only tiny bites of bread and sips of water. The “friend” cares for the boy and doesn’t want to hurt him, but all the boy sees is that his “friend” is trying to hurt him.

I’m the starving Chinese boy when I face times of discouragement. I can’t see the bigger picture, yet God can. I have to remember that God loves me and doesn’t want to harm me. The lingering unanswered prayer doesn’t mean God is trying to hurt me. That’s not who God is. I don’t know why God is taking so long in answering my prayer, but I must hang onto the fact that God loves me.

So if you are facing discouragement or maybe even feelings of hurt by God, remember the Chinese boy. What he wanted so badly, would actually cause harm to him. The airman who took away the food was saving him. God is always watching out for us. What may appear like he doesn’t love us, is a lie. He doesn’t violate His own character and He loves us. He never stops. He has my best interests at heart. He has your best interests at heart. Don’t be deceived. God wants the best for us. I can’t see it now. If you are  going through something, you can’t see it. But never forget: God loves us, always.