“He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber.” Psalm 121:3

When I saw my grandson, he was limping. Having been around boys all my life, I made no judgment because I needed more information. “What happened?” I asked. He had fallen, and gravity did what gravity does and he came down on his foot, turning his toe underneath. Telling me the story, I could tell he WASN’T just faking it! Well, maybe a little! But Duncan was clearly in pain and it showed!

Parents do what parents do, and plans were made to take him to a clinic to see what damage there might be because… when you don’t know what to do, you get more information. So off to the Clinic went mom, dad and son. It was a few hours later when they came back to say it was just sprained and he’d be ok. Duncan limped, milking it for all he could, then went to play with cousins.

A phone call came after we had left. Someone told mom that there were some troubling lesions that COULD be a sign of cancer, and that they needed to see a specialist. Plans were made immediately, and 3 days later the Doctor saw Duncan, he told them that “No… the lesions were nothing to worry about, BUT… Duncan’s foot WAS actually broken!” I told him, ‘Awesome cast Dunk-man!’

This Bible verse is comforting. Kind of! Upon immediate diagnosis, it can easily appear to be a promise that God will never let anything bad happen to me. In fact, satan used this very verse to tempt Jesus to doubt when things weren’t going very well. It didn’t work. Because Jesus knew His Father’s intention with the verse in the first place. Sadly, bad diagnosis too frequently happens.

Once the diagnosis of a sprained foot was given and Duncan was on the playground playing with his cousins, he had actually started RUNNING, laughing while doing it! ‘Since it isn’t broken, what could go wrong’ MAY have been his mindset. I get it. It’s easy to take God’s Word literally… believing what it literally doesn’t. Like ‘ once saved – always saved, so I can do what I want… right!’

I have problems with running ahead and stretching God’s Truth sometimes. Sometimes it’s because I haven’t dug deep enough to know it well enough in the first place. Other times it’s to get away with doing WHAT I want, WHEN I want! But back in my mind I get this gnawing sense of a bad diagnosis whispering, “but are you really SURE!?” THen run on anyway! After consequences, I remind God of this verse!

Do YOU question God, His Word, or His seeming absence when bad things happen? Do you REALLY KNOW what and where God is in your life right now? Or are you running broken? I’m going to try to study harder to know Him better. Want to join in casting your cares on Him? He wants to clear up that bad diagnosis!