Children are always asking questions. Do you remember when you were little and you just had this thirst to know so many things? So you asked questions all the time. Or maybe you remember your own children asking you: “Why is the sky blue?” You gave the best answer you could. Mine was usually along the lines of, “Well, God made the sky and He decided that He wanted it to be blue.” Followed by the next question,
“Why are there white clouds?” Not being a scientist, I fell back on my old answer that always seemed to work, “Because God made the clouds and put them in the sky.” Do you remember the “how’ questions you were asked, “How does a light work?” My answers to the how questions were usually along the lines of confessing my ignorance and encouraging my child to come with me to our set of encyclopedias to look it up. (Yes, I actually had a set of World Book Encyclopedias that were well-used!). Now I am all grown up, and I am the one with questions. “Why, Lord, is there evil in the world?” “Why, Lord, must people suffer and die?” “How, Lord, does this whole living for You work?” And you know what? God always has an answer ready for me in His Word. He speaks to my softly, calling out to my heart that He is near and that He hears the cry of my heart. Everyone in the world is seeking answers, and we, the Christians of the world, have the answer. It is the seed that that Lord has planted in our hearts and in His Word that we have grown there.

Earlier this week, I was so sad because I had lost another friend to the fight against death. But her funeral was an affirmation of how much she loved the Lord and that she is with Him in Heaven now. The pastor and her daughter read from her journal and her diary, all about her close relationship to Jesus. So, I know for sure that she is at peace and that I can put my hope for my future in the Lord. My husband is very pragmatic about death; his answer is that we are getting older so we can expect to see more of our friends die. True statement, but not very comforting! Good thing that I have God’s Word to depend on, to take me over this hump.

But God does more than give me hope. He also calls me to tell others about the hope that I have in me. He has me reading in the Old Testament about God’s call to His people for repentance. God loves all the people in the world just as much as He loves you and me. He doesn’t want anyone to die without knowing Him. He created a Heaven and a Hell, but Hell was never meant for man. It was for the fallen angels, but if we go through life without accepting Him as our Savior, then we are choosing to go to Hell. I don’t want that for anyone I love, anyone I know, anyone I just speak to casually. Like my Lord and Savior, I want everyone to know Him, to have a relationship with Him that will give them the same hope that I have.

God is full of mercy and grace and love and calls out to His people to repent. I think that is why Jesus hasn’t returned yet. He wants as many people as possible to know Him and His resurrection power. God’s love will never end, it will never fail. He doesnt’ want to punish anyone. I remember when my children were small and did something that they knew they were not supposed to do, I felt compelled to punish them. Often, the punishment was a spanking with a paddle. (Yes, I believed in corporal punishment and still do.). Anyway, I spanked and then I cuddled and we talked about the bad choice that my child had made and how to make better choices. I discovered that as my children aged, they did not need to be disciplined by me as much because they were being trained to make good choices from the beginning. That’s what God’s discipline is like; it’s training to lead us down the road of making better choices, the road to life and hope for a future with Him. I hope that all of my readers have made that choice, but if you haven’t, I implore you to read the Book of John in the Holy Bible. Discover God’s love for you and accept Him as Your Savior. Blessings and prayers.