Know That God Cares

In my backyard is a hanging basket of petunia flowers that hangs on a big metal crook. My wife was given that in early summer. It had really grown with purple, pink, and white blossoms hanging off of branches that cascaded down the basket about two feet or more. I watered it every day, provided fertilizer, and deadheaded the spent blossoms. As I say, it was doing really well, until one morning I went out to water it and it was just a stub of plants standing in the middle of the pot about six inches high. It looked like someone had come along with scissors and gave it a butch haircut, but in reality, what had happened is a doe that had been showing up in the back yard saw that hanging basket and thought to herself, “Oh look! It’s a hanging salad bar.” She got it, and she got it good.
 
I almost chucked the stubby flowers and dirt onto our compost pile, thinking that it was a goner. But after thinking about it some more, I realized that pruning is good for flowers like that. Now, of course, that was a severe pruning I hadn’t wanted, but I decided to keep it and kept watering it to see what it would do. Let me just say, that hanging basket is resilient. Not only did it live, but it’s growing and looking really good now, with more blossoms opening up every day.
 
As I think about that petunia hanging basket, it reminds me that sometimes our life goes like that. You know what I mean? Life is going smoothly. Everything seems to be going perfectly. And then it happens: something comes along and cuts us down, chews us up, and we feel like that petunia looked—nothing but a stubby remnant trying to find the sunshine. Maybe we lose our job, or the car breaks down and now we’re facing a huge bill with nothing to pay it with. Perhaps you’re struggling to pay the grocery bill, or they’re threatening to shut the lights off because you owe too much. Maybe it’s your health that’s giving you trouble, or a co-worker gets on your nerves, or the person you love decides they don’t want to be in a relationship with you anymore. Are you worried over your children, or are you wondering how you’re going to find care for your aging parents? Are you nervous about starting a new school year or heading off to college? Has someone you cared about passed away, and you’re missing them right now?
 
Going through hardship sometimes causes us to wonder if God cares about us. What the Bible tells us is when you wonder if God cares, know that He does. Psalm 139:1-2 highlights this truth when it says, You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. In verses 7-12, the palmist reflects: Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.  If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
 
God knows everything about us: where we are, what we’re doing, what we’re thinking, how we got to where we are, and where we’ll be in the future. While we live in a world that is still impacted by sin’s consequences, and we don’t always escape hardship, we can rest assured that nothing escapes God’s notice. We are not alone. God is present and he’s never far away if we’re looking for him. Even though we still have to do the hard work of resolving differences, looking for solutions, and putting our nose to the grindstone…still God is there providing his eternal perspective, giving us his wisdom, and renewing our energy.
 
We work hard, but we don’t worry.
Tyler

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