Why Can’t We All
Look At Life This Way?
A teenage shark attack victim, Bethany Hamilton, recently wrote of her
traumatic experience and its aftermath in a book entitled, “Out Of The
Blue.” Bethany lost her entire left arm in the attack while surfing one
day. As she recalls the healing and recovery process that followed, she
writes of a moment when she was able (on account of her own experiences)
to console and encourage a downtrodden boy named Logan, another victim
of a shark attack. Bethany then wrote the following: “Moments like this
[with Logan] make me think I may be able to do more good having one arm
than when I had two. I think this was God’s plan for me all along. I am
not saying that God made the shark bite me. I think he knew it would
happen, and he made a way for my life to be happy and meaningful in
spite of it happening. If I can help other people find hope in God, than
that is worth whatever I’ve lost” (Reader’s Digest, Dec. 2004, p.172).
Neither Bethany nor anyone else will know for sure if, as she puts it,
“this was God’s plan for” her all along. But her attitude toward God,
His providence, and her tragedy is commendable. Would that we all would
look upon (what we perceive to be) life‘s “misfortunes” in such a way.
Too often we become down and depressed because circumstances haven’t
worked out the way we would have liked them to. Why is it that we can
not at least wonder if perhaps God hasn’t meant such for our good?
The apostle Paul reached a point in life where he “pleaded with the Lord
three times” that “a thorn in the flesh” might depart from him. Yet
while Paul saw misfortune in his thorn, the Lord saw it to be good for
him. He told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is
made perfect in weakness.” When all was said and done, Paul had learned
to say, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
No, we can never know just how God works in our lives; but we can and do
know that He “is at hand,“ that His eyes “are on the righteous,“ and
that He has promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Phil.
4:5; 1 Peter 3:12; Heb. 13:5). Let us, then, cease our fretting and
depression when a situation is not suitable to our liking. We may think
such to be “evil” when perhaps “God meant it for good” (see Genesis
50:20). Give it some thought.
--Mike Noble
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