The Absent God

Where were You, God, when that car hit Evan? Jessica raged inwardly. Why didn’t You get that drunken idiot off the road before he hurt my baby?

The nurse had given seven-year-old Evan a shot, and he now slept peacefully. Jessica had wept so much she wondered if she could still cry, but her tears rained down on his hospital bed. No tear shortage so far.

The doctors thought Evan would recover, but he would need extensive care and therapy. Jessica’s stomach lurched at the thought of the long, painful road Evan would face. And she would have to walk it with him.

Do You see us, God? Jessica touched Evan’s white face. Do You even care?

When the Old Testament prophet Isaiah wrote the scripture above, he prophesied to a nation whose families would know the unspeakable horrors of battles, sieges, defeat, and exile. No doubt the Israelites, like Jessica, felt God had forgotten them. But, through Isaiah, God assured His sad, weary listeners that He would renew their nonexistent strength for the difficult tasks ahead. “They shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31 KJV).

He’ll do the same for us today.