Don't Give Up on God, Because He Never Gave Up On You

This morning after I did my devotion, I scoured FB, and in a few seconds I was crying over this post. I was crying for all the people that didn't know or believe that God existed. I was crying because I am very close to someone who would often say when he was frustrated that God is not real. That there is No God.  He would dare say something like that, and then take it back after his anger has died down. 


The post was very nice. It's a story actually. It goes like this:

A LESSON LEARNED.....Why God Allows Pain

This is one of the best explanations of why God allows pain and suffering that I have seen…

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: “I don’t believe that God exists.”

“Why do you say that?” asked the customer. “Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn’t exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children?

If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can’t imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things.” The customer thought for a moment, but didn’t respond because he didn’t want to start an argument.. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.

Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt.. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: “You know what? Barbers do not exist.”

“How can you say that?” asked the surprised barber. “I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!”

“No!” the customer exclaimed. “Barbers don’t exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.”

“Ah, but barbers DO exist! That’s what happens when people do not come to me.”

“Exactly!” affirmed the customer. “That’s the point! God, too, DOES exist! That’s what happens when people do not go to Him and don’t look to Him for help. That’s why there’s so much pain and suffering in the world.”

And then I realized, yes. God does exist. People who don't go to Him or look to Him for help often think that there is no God. 

I actually like the idea that I can do anything with God. It's a very comforting thought. Like I can stop smoking with God's help. Now the only thing I need to ask for is that God changes my mind about it. Sometimes I also am tempted by other things. Man, do I pray hard that He helps me see the other way. If God were in front of me, He'd probably slap me silly. Although I don't think He'd do that really.  But He'd definitely make me do something to rethink my steps. Funny how He works sometimes. Mommy Mabel, this one pastor that we visit often, once said that if we ask for something, God often responds. Say for example, you pray for patience. You ask for God's help to make you patient. And then all of a sudden your husband starts acting up, starts picking a fight. And you're irritated that he's doing that when you're trying to be holy. But didn't I realize, she said, that since I asked for patience, that this might be God's way of teaching me patience? I had to laugh. No, I admitted, I didn't realize that might be how it was.  

And so whenever something like that happens in my home, I think back to what she said. It might be true, that this is a test of patience or something, and I should start paying attention if I want all the help I can get!

Well, this for now, more for later.