Interlude

The pic is of one of my all-time favourite patients, precious little Anna :) She's one and a half years old and was admitted for just over three weeks. She came to us severely malnourished (weight under 5.5kg!) and near death with severe malaria complicated by severe anaemia (Hb under 4.0g/dL!). After much intensive therapy involving IV artesunate, whole blood transfusion, therapeutic feeds, and lots of hugs and kisses (she was everyone’s darling), she was sent home on Friday.

Dear Lord, please watch over her; we may not understand her social situation and why she got so sick in the first place but You do. You know how her parents are separated, how she lives with her abuba (grandmother), and how she may not have enough to eat at home. I know You love her so much that You gave up Your own life for her; I trust that You know best how to take care of us, even though we may not comprehend the whys and whereofs.

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,“ says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Job 42:2-3 “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”

Romans 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and His ways past finding out! “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counsellor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to Him?” For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

When tragedies occur, it’s natural – even expected – to ask where was God in all this and why He would allow it to happen in the first place, given that He is indeed sovereign and a good God.  I don’t have any glib answers to this thorny question; I don’t believe anyone on earth does. There have been many theologians and philosophers over the centuries that have attempted to unravel this mystery of mysteries. All I know is that one day, we will find out; if not here, then in the hereafter when we shall see Him face to face. In the meantime, all we can do is trust that yes, He is omniscient (all-knowing), yes, He is omnipotent (all-powerful), but at the same time, He has been, is, and always will be goodness itself.

Isaiah 29:16 Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; for shall the thing made say of him who made it, “He did not make me”? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

After all, can we truly say that our lives are in total submission to His will? Are we so sure that the blame for whatever malady that befalls us can be laid at the feet of His whims and fancies rather than that of our own desires or the consequences of a fallen world badly in need of an overhaul?

P.S. The title refers to my upcoming break where I will probably not be blogging for a few weeks; see you all back in December!