Deep and solid trust in God’s providence

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THAT’S what we need in our life here on earth. Given our limited, not to mention wounded, condition, we should see to it that whatever happens in our life, we should have a deep and solid trust in God’s providence. We are always in his hands, and even in situations where we cannot find anymore solutions in this world, we should never doubt that God has assured us that everything would just be all right as long as stick with him.

This was once dramatized in that gospel episode where Christ’s disciples were buffeted by big waves while they were in a boat. Christ appeared to them, walking on the sea, reassured them that it was he and not a ghost, and miraculously the tumultuous water became calm. (cfr. Mk 6,45-52)

God will always provide for our needs and limitations. He will, in fact, do everything to snatch us from the worst evil that can happen to us through the most effective and wise redemptive work of Christ.

God always provides for our needs. He is a very compassionate God who cannot tolerate to see people suffer. That gospel story has a very happy, uplifting ending.

And yet, if I may, we can ask the question—that if God is that compassionate and generous, then why is there so much suffering, poverty and misery around? It would even look like God is completely indifferent to this sad condition worldwide. It would look like many people are left to rot in their miserable condition.

The answer, of course, is that, yes, God is always compassionate. He cannot tolerate seeing people suffer. He will always provide for all our needs. He even went to the extent of becoming man in Christ who had to offer his life to attain the greatest need of mankind—our salvation. With that supreme act of compassion and generosity freely done, what other need do we have that would not be taken care of by God?

The truth is that God has provided us with everything. From our life with all its natural endowments to the air and water, to the abundant food from plants and animals and other resources, he has given them all for us to use and to live with the dignity of being children of God.

The problem is that we do not know how to manage them, how to care and help one another. There is so much indifference and self-indulgence, the germs that would develop into a worldwide pandemic of social injustice and inequality.

And when we are faced with our limitations and a state of helplessness, we should just be ready for them and know not only how to deal with them but also how to derive something good from them. In these instances of the hard predicaments, for example, when we seem to be at a loss as to what to do, we should just see at what God does, after we have done all things possible to solve our problems.

We need to trust in God’s providence and mercy. We have to learn to live a spirit of abandonment in the hands of God. Yes, if we have faith in God, in his wisdom and mercy, in his unfailing love for us, we know that everything will always work out for the good. If we are with God, we can always dominate whatever suffering can come our way in the same manner that Christ absorbed all his passion and death on the cross.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com