The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

Deuteronomy 32:4

In very difficult times, we learn what we really believe. When we are hurting, we must fall back on who God is and cling to his Word. He is “good and do[es] good” (Ps. 119:68). He is perfect in all his ways (see Ps. 18:30). He has not failed us, nor is he indifferent to our pain or the plight of our children (see Isa. 61:1–3; 63:9). He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-wise (see Ps. 139:1–24; Jer. 10:12; 32:27). And “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Our verse for today is a good summation of these truths.

You may be learning that your children are some of the most difficult of God’s gifts to place fully in his hands. To agree with God’s timing or decision concerning the salvation of our children is a matter of raw faith and the ultimate test of our trust and submission. Heartfelt questions posed to God are not always wrong. But be careful how you question God during this time. “Why, God?” can be either a painful cry for understanding and faith or an angry judgment of God’s work in your circumstances. The latter will get you nowhere, nor does God deserve it.

Difficult parenting years are a special time for us to learn to trust the Lord more. Real trust means we are willing to accept calamity as well as good through the filtering hand of God. Think of Job, who suddenly lost everything dear to him. His astounding reaction to this extreme trial was to worship God rather than judge him: “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong” (Job 1:20–22).

Habakkuk the prophet expressed this same attitude when he said, “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places” (Hab. 3:17–19).

Later, Job did waver in his trust. And you may waver too. But you must—and God will help you—return to trust as Job did (see Job 42:1–6). It is the kind of love and trust an all-wise and good God deserves.

— Stuart W. Scott, author, Wayward Children