The Woman Who Came Through The Line

She is always so pleasant.
I try to go through her line when I check out.
She always calls me, Hon.
She has a contagious smile.

We talk in snippets.
Sometimes that snippets are all you need.
Somewhere along the line, we realized we have the Lord in common.
I knew it, Hon, I remember her saying to me.

She talks about her church.
She might tell me a little about the Sunday sermon.
She will tell me things her pastor says.
It is delightful to go through her line.

This particular day, she talked about her pastor again.
She told me how she has many opportunities to talk about Jesus throughout the day.
I can imagine her making the most of the opportunities she is given.
She takes God’s Word seriously.

She told me about a woman who comes through her line quite often.
The woman wears beautiful scarves on her head.
The cashier complimented the woman on her scarves.
One day, the woman opened up and told the cashier that she needs to wear the scarves.

The woman has cancer.
She lost her hair during her chemo treatments.
The cashier told the woman again how pretty she looks in her scarves.
I love to come through your line because of your positive attitude, the woman told the cashier.

Thank you, but it’s not just a positive attitude, the cashier said.
It is the joy of the Lord.
The cashier told me that the woman’s whole demeanor changed.
Her smile faded; she looked angry.

I don’t want to hear about God, the woman in the pretty scarf said.
I don’t believe in God, she said angrily.
I’m not saying that because of my illness, she went on.
I’m  saying that because of the children.

The cashier was so surprised at the woman’s reaction.
The cashier was confused about the woman’s last remark.
The children? The cashier asked, not understanding what the woman meant.
The woman gritted her teeth and answered.

How could a God make children sick?
Doesn’t He care?
There can’t be a God who would do something like that.
I don’t believe in God.

Hearing about the woman’s comments hurt my heart as well.
The cashier leaned across the belt where my things were placed.
You know, I understand what the woman was saying, the cashier said.
My faith is strong but how do you answer that? She asked.

Theodicy.
The age old question.
If God is good, how can there be evil in the world?
If God is good, how can there be suffering?

We heard questions like that after 9/11.
Where was God when the planes hit the towers?
We hear questions like this after any mass shooting.
Where was God when the gunman opened fire?

The answer is, God is right there.
God is right there on the battlefield.
God is right there in the cancer wards.
God is right there in the hurricane.

Sometimes God allows what he hates to accomplish what he loves. (Joni Eareckson Tada)

We cannot understand God’s ways.
God’s ways are not our ways.
If God could be totally understood, He would not be God.
God is beyond our comprehension.

God always was, always is, and always will be.
We cannot fathom His Divine existence with our feeble human minds.
We think that God has to do things the way we would do them.
We do not have a clue as to the way things should be done.

God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.
(John Piper)

God’s goodness does not depend on circumstances.
God’s goodness does not depend on how we feel at any given time.
God’s goodness does not depend on us at all.
God is good. All the time.

The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. (Exodus 34:6)

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His love endures forever. (1 Chronicles 16:34)

The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made. (Psalm 145:9)

Verse after verse, truth after truth, tells us that God is good.
We cannot rely on our feelings.
We cannot judge God’s goodness by the things that happen to us.
God is good. All the time.

The son of R.C. Sproul said it best when asked about the theodicy question.

Why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened once, and He volunteered. (R.C. Sproul Jr.)

Jesus willingly went to the cross.
Jesus suffered, died, and was buried.
God the Father had to turn His face away, since all of our sin was laid on Jesus.
God the Father cannot look at sin and for those agonizing moments, He turned His face away.

God the Father turned His face away from His own Son.
God the Father watched His Son suffer and die.
God the Father raised Jesus from the dead.
God the Father accepted Jesus’ sacrifice, which none of us could offer.

We have a Savior who wept.
We have a Savior who suffered.
We have a Savior who died.
Praise God, we have a Savior who lives.

We will never understand suffering.
We will never understand the plan of God.
Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)
Faith gives us certainty even when we do not understand.

The cashier told me that the woman has not been back since all of this took place.
Since the woman is going through cancer treatments, I pray for her to know God.
I pray for her to know the One to whom she can cling.
I pray for her to know joy even in the midst of her suffering.

I cannot imagine going through this life without God.
Many people do.
We, who know God, must make Him known.
It is not a positive attitude we exude, but rather it is Christ.

Perhaps, the Light of Christ is what angered the woman so.
That same Light can also show her the Way.
I pray that the woman comes through the line again.
I pray the cashier has an opportunity to exude His joy.