Our Daily Bread: Called to Serveনমুনা

God’s Face

God … has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. —2 Corinthians 4:6

Much of my career has revolved around the problem of pain. I return again and again to the same questions as if fingering an old wound that never quite heals. I hear anguished stories that give human faces to my doubts. I remember a youth pastor calling me after he had learned that his wife and baby daughter were dying of AIDS because of a tainted blood transfusion. “How can I talk to my youth group about a loving God?” he asked.

I have learned to not even attempt an answer to these “why” questions. Why did the youth pastor’s wife happen to get the one tainted bottle of blood? Why does a tornado hit one town and skip over another? Why do prayers for physical healing go unanswered?

One question, however, no longer gnaws at me as it once did: “Does God care?” I know of only one way to answer that question, and the answer is Jesus. In Jesus, God gave us a face. If you wonder how God feels about the suffering on this groaning planet, look at that face.

“Does God care?” His Son’s death on our behalf, which will ultimately destroy all pain, sorrow, suffering, and death for eternity, answers that question. “For God, who said, ‘Let there be light in the darkness,’ has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Philip Yancey

God’s love for us is as expansive as the open arms of Christ on the cross.