The Moon is Always Round

Have you had a difficult day? A tough week? A grueling month? Or perhaps a year that feels more like a decade? Maybe this doesn’t apply to you . . . today. But we’ve all lived long enough to know that if we’re not in the middle of a rough time now, it won’t be long until circumstances shift us into a new season requiring perseverance and faith.

A “good” day often depends on external events—happenings we have no control over. Hurricanes, floods, and fires. Betrayals, illnesses, and financial setbacks.

We may find ourselves asking, “Why?” Why does God allow the clouds of affliction to hound and harass us? Perhaps it might be to:

• refine our character and grow us to be more like Christ
• teach us our joy is not dependent on our circumstances
• bring us into a deeper level of intimate dependence on Him
• teach us His grace is sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9).

Maybe the reason has nothing to do with us, but everything to do with someone else:

• someone who may be watching how we respond—to see if our talk about trusting Christ holds up when people or circumstances let us down
• someone with whom we can share comfort as we have been comforted by the Lord in our own difficulties (2 Cor. 1:3-4).

During hard times, we have a choice in how we respond. We can run to or from God. If we run from Him, we’ll end up bitter and rebellious. If we run to Him, He’ll equip us with the ability to persevere and ultimately glorify Him.

Don’t believe Satan’s lie that God has abandoned you in your suffering simply because you can’t see Him in those moments. Instead, consider The Moon is Always Round, a story of a father, his young son, and the moon, written by Jonathan Gibson:

A father and his three-year-old son would look out the window at the moon each night. As they watched the moon wax and wane over weeks and months, the father taught his son, “The moon is always round.” That truth was evident when they gazed at a full moon. But as it began to wane, the little boy would say, “I can’t see all of it anymore.” And his father answered, “Even when you can’t see it, the moon is always round.” Then the father took the lesson a step further by asking, “What does that mean?” And he taught his son to say, “Just like the moon is always round, God is always good.”

Friends, whether we can see Him or not, God is always good and always present with His children. We will endure seasons that try to cause us to doubt His presence and His goodness. But the truth remains: just as the moon is always round whether we see it or not, God is always with us. And He is always at work for our ultimate good and His eternal glory.