“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5) This is the verse that comes to mind as I look at the world this morning. I ask myself how something good come out of so many events that seem to glorify evil, hurt the innocent, and change the world for the worse. It sometimes feels overwhelming.

There’s an old story I heard years ago that helps me in these moments. It goes like this… An old man and his son had a horse who ran away. The neighbors said, “What terrible luck!”

But the old man said, “Maybe yes, maybe no. We’ll see.”

Several days later, the horse returned, leading several wild horses. The neighbors said, “What great luck!”

But the old man said, “Maybe yes, maybe no. We’ll see.”

While the son was trying to break one of the wild horses, he fell and broke his leg. The neighbors said, “What terrible luck!”

But the old man said, “Maybe yes, maybe no. We’ll see.”

A few weeks later, soldiers from the national army came to town, recruiting all the boys for service. They didn’t choose the man’s son because of his broken leg. The neighbors said, “What great luck! Your boy has been spared!”

Again the old man said, “Maybe yes, maybe no. We’ll see.”

As humans, we spend a lot of time trying to determine if a particular event is good or bad. We base our feelings on past experiences and limited knowledge. In the course of our lives, however, how many times do we look back and realize our initial assumption was wrong?

That’s where Proverb 3:5 comes in… “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” God knows all, sees all, and is in complete control.

In another Bible verse (Romans 8:28), we learn, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” So even if things work out poorly, we are assured that God will turn it to good. That certainly has happened in my life. Over the years I have taken enough spins around this planet to realize that life is fragile and uncertain.

Then we are faced with a tragedy like the Texas Guadalupe River flood. My Texas. My home. My neighbors. How can anything good come of it? Babies died. Families were swept away. So much loss and devastation. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all.

The grief is real. The heartache unimaginable. The loss certain. This is when our trust and faith well up inside us from the depths of our pain. We know that Jesus feels our grief and shares our pain. As an example, Jesus wept when He saw Mary and Martha grieving at the grave of their brother Lazarus (John 11:33). We remember that Jesus was innocent yet betrayed, brutally tortured, crucified, and buried. Jesus knows our pain because He, too, suffered. We can come to Him with our deepest sorrows because He, too, was forsaken. We have hope because He rose from the dead and offers us eternal life with Him (John 11:25-26).

It is in God’s promises that we survive our deepest sorrows. He promises we will meet our deceased loved ones again (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). He promises to heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds (Psalm 147.3). He promises to restore us (Isaiah 61:3). He promises to strengthen us and uphold us (Isaiah 41:10). He promises never to leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:8). He even promises that when we go through deep waters, He will be there (Isaiah 43:2-3). Most importantly, Jesus offers the ultimate promise: “Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with Him, we will also live with Him. (1 Timothy 2:11).

Jesus told us that in this world we will have tribulation, but to take heart because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). The Texas flood tragedy reminds us of those tribulations and that this fallen world is not our own nor is it our eternal home. Those of us who love God can trust His goodness, His power, and His will to work out all things for our good… even when the pain is unimaginable.

At times like this, it takes a brave heart to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding. Yes, we grieve… but not without hope. As the Bible tells us, we are to “comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18). May God richly bless you.

***

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)