There is a line from a William Stafford poem:
“It’s for the best,” my mother said, “Nothing can
ever be wrong for anyone truly good.”
And then I look at the suffering Jesus endured,
and the suffering of all people.
If any one was definitely good, it would be Jesus.
As for me, the only good in me is Jesus.
And yet he suffered.
I have suffered, and will again.
The people I love have suffered.
The stranger in the store has suffered,
and perhaps even now is trying to live with tragedy.
Why? I don’t know.
I do know that Jesus came and he suffered.
He was human. He suffered
with us, for us.
God never answered Job’s questions.
He is not going to answer mine.
God is the one who asks the questions:
How are you going to respond?
Are you going to receive or reject, keep or give?
The answer to the question is not a what, but a who,
not words, but the Word.
God is the answer to all questions.
And Jesus came
to show and to live and to be the answer.
I claim no deep understanding,
but I know—I know—with Jesus,
nothing can ever be wrong.
Near the end of the same poem,
“You don’t have to prove anything,” my mother said.
“Just be ready for what God sends.”