There was a youth pastor in his early thirties who exhibited a level of genius in his study and his working with youth. He and his young wife took a few days off to relax. Diving into the water he miscalculated and was knocked unconscious when he hit his head on the bottom of the pool. Life guards dove in and rescued him, but there was permanent damage to his brain. He now has the mental capacity of a child.
There was a young man who experimented with drugs and alcohol. His life was filled with carousing, cheating and self worship. One day, driving a motorcycle under the influence of alcohol he hit a tree crushing his leg. The doctors warned him that he would most likely loose the limb during the operation. God intervened and the leg was miraculously restored to normal. The young man turned toward God for nearly six months, but soon fell back into old habits, rejecting God altogether.
The writer of Ecclesiastes puts it this way, “There is vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked: again, there are wicked men to whom it happen according to the work of the righteous.” Ecc 8:14
These stories disturb our faith. but we are wise to remember God’s words to us found in Isaiah, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8-9)
God has his purpose and the eternal outcome possess the greatest importance.
