When God Tears Up our Nest

 “All was well with me, but he shattered me.”

—Job 16:12

Once upon a time, there was a colony of ground squirrels in front of our home that appeared when the snow melted in the spring. Carolyn and I would enjoy watching them as they scampered from one hole to another, while others stood like tiny, alert sentries watching for hawks and other predators.

But one day, in mid May, a man from the golf course arrived in a little green tractor with a large tank on the back loaded with lethal gas. Ground squirrels, the groundskeepers told us, dug holes in the fairways and thus had to go. It made us sad to see the truck arrive.

If I could, I would have chased the little animals away, torn up their holes and forced them to settle some other place. I’m sure they would have resented my interference, but my actions would have been solely for their good.

So it is with our Lord: he may break up our comfortable nests from time to time, but behind every change and displacement lies the love and eternal purpose of God. He is not cruel or capricious; He is working for our good—to conform us to the likeness of his son and to give us glorious enjoyment in heaven forever.

Can we then resent change when it comes from one whose love is so sure?

DHR