You’ve heard the expression “it could be worse,” right? Well... that phrase can sound like a cop-out. It can even sound trite. But you know what? It’s true. Things could be a lot worse for all of us... it’s a thought that prompts a lot of gratitude to God on my part. In fact, I said, “it could be worse” to a man named Steve the other day who wrote to tell me that he just could not believe that God would allow awful things to happen. He said, “Joni, to even say that God allows bad things to happen goes against His loving nature. Suffering simply cannot be God’s fault.” I took a deep breath and this is what I told him:
I said, “Steve, I picture God holding up His hands against the force of evil, stopping the flood of bad things which, otherwise, might reach and harm us. It says in Deuteronomy 33:27 that His everlasting arms shield us... He is our refuge, our protector. Hey Steve, this sin-stained planet would have ripped apart at the seams eons ago were it not for the continuing hand of God’s grace preserving and protecting us from the full force of the Fall’s effects. ‘Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights’ and I’m sure, were it not for the preserving influence of the Spirit of Christ in this world, His hand holding it all back, we would see much, much more calamity, violence, natural catastrophes, war, and crime. It really could be worse.
“And so! If God should take away, ever so slightly, His hand of protection... if He should part his fingers just a tad to let bad things slip by... if He should remove ‘just a little bit’ His everlasting arms so that we might feel the force of the Fall’s curse, is He to be blamed? Is He to be faulted for ‘doing evil’? No. Rather, He is simply giving us a taste of the ‘hell’ which He is lovingly and mercifully holding back — He allows that suffering to happen in our lives to wake us up out of our spiritual slumber, to cause us to quit relying on our props, and to run to Him out of desperation that we have nowhere else to turn.”
Yes, things could be worse, friend. Thank God we don’t get what we deserve (that would be the justice of God if it happened). And thank heavens things are not more crazy than they are already (it would be the mercy of God, if things were). But that we only experience the hardships we do is the grace of God, for He promises that nothing, absolutely nothing will escape His hand of protection to touch us except that which has been weighed and measured so as to not ultimately harm us.
Things could be worse... and you know what? Because of the grace of God, because of His hope and promises, aren’t you glad to know that one day, things will get better?
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
© Joni and Friends