There is a heartwrenching article in Time magazine [David Van Biema, "When God Hides His Face," Time, July 16, 2001] about the Guthrie family, whose second child, Hope, was born severely brain damaged because of a genetic disorder called Zellweger Syndrome. She lived only seven months. After her birth, David Guthrie got a vasectomy, but against all odds, his wife Nancy became pregnant again, and this child too, a boy, was found to have Zellweger Syndrome. The baby was to have been born in July, and as I have heard nothing since the Time article, I don’t know whether or not he is still living.
The article deals not only with traditional human views of suffering and the question of God’s relation to human suffering, but also with the faith of the Guthrie family and the other members of their church. One of these supportive friends, Wayne Buchanan, is quoted as saying that “we will go down with the ship, believing in our hearts that God is in control.”
This quote has come back to me during the illness of one of our sisters. Although we know that God does not desire pain for us, still we have to believe that God is ultimately in control. The Resurrection of Jesus shows us this. Our own experience of letting God bring good out of painful events shows us this. The beauty and mystery glimpsed from time to time amid distress also show us this. No matter what happens, we are never out of the hand of our loving God.
The eternal God is your dwelling place,
and underneath are the everlasting arms.
(Deuteronomy 33:27, RSV)