Many ask why God permits evil. The better question is why we do. Often, when there is an intractable problem in a person's life -- no matter how much he or she prays -- it does not leave because he has forgotten a biblical admonition from Jesus, Who, as Saint Francis of Assisi reminded his friars (see: The Writings of Saint Francis), when asked once why a spirit would not leave, said (Mark 9:29),

"This kind of demon cannot go forth except in  fasting and prayer."

It's a trick of the devil that in modern versions of the Bible they have removed the word "fasting."

We pray and pray but we are praying against an obstacle, a roadblock, a wall, instead of removing it. Hence, frustration. "Where is God?" Waiting (while we butt our heads).

Proclaim a fast.

Dispel evil and then: seek His design in prayer. Look for His "signs in your midst" (the "sign of His Plan").

This comes yes through peace but also through ease despite difficulty.

Always remember: victory starts in your thoughts. When you meditate on the truth that God is for you and has a good plan for you, seeds of faith will spring forth, and you will rise up in boldness to a new level of victory.

"When you are following God’s plan for your life, it is certain that you will find yourself thrust out of your comfort zone," notes one evangelist. "Perhaps you have an opportunity before you right now that seems intimidating. Maybe you want to start a new career, but you are afraid that you won’t be able to succeed. Or, you want to buy a new home, but your lack of experience as a homeowner is holding you back. While it may be true that you lack experience at something, let me assure you that God does not; and when you rely on Him, He will equip you to excel at whatever you set your hand to. He will always lead you to a new level of victory!"

It is another reason for stubborn problems: straying from God's design. We decide to build a "house" without His blueprint. Yet let us ask: Do we really think we could design anything better than God does? If we believe such a thing we should think of snowflakes and then go and design all the snowflakes that have ever existed on earth and make certain each one is different than any other, yet beautifully symmetrical, for that is what God does. Look at the whorls -- again unique -- of your fingerprints. Do you think that a Creator Who did that -- Who creates every human face differently, yet wonderfully, Who has endless ways of configuring beauty, Who sets a specific path for every life, in accordance with a Grander Plan -- is not also watchful over every minute detail that transpires in our lives?

As Saint Gregory said, "In this visible world, nothing takes place without the agency of the invisible creature" and Saint Thomas: "As the inferior angels... are ruled by the superior, so are all material things ruled by angels."

When there are roadblocks, we are out of touch with them.

We have only to reflect upon Christ's own mother at His birth and then Crucifixion to know that had we been in her place, we would have complained that God was providing absolutely nothing. Yet, there was no complaint from this wisest woman in history. Was that a roadblock -- what happened at the inn -- or a step upward (for her and Him and all of humanity)?

Just as God designed your face, the way your organs function with each other, the molecules in your blood, so did He design a plan for your life, yes with hardships; you lose peace when you stray from it, when you attempt to circumvent or even re-design it, when you do not take the time (in prayer, after a fast) to expel the evil one.

Have you not noticed that when you let God handle matters they fall into place in a way you could not have foreseen but is so natural? All is a miracle. It is just so large a miracle that we do not see it. He even suspends time. This is a lesson of Lent: stripping down what we fashion in favor of what God has for us. You are who you really are when God controls your life.

"How, then, does God treat those whom He loves most?" asked Dom Bruno Webb, a Benedictine monk (in Why Does God Permit Evil?). "'Whom the Lord loveth He correcteth, and He scourgeth every son whom He accepteth." Christ Himself said that "every branch that beareth fruit He cleanseth, that it may bear more fruit." 

"For You formed my inward parts," says Psalm 139. "You wove me in my mother’s womb." You are "wonderfully made." Our pruning clipper is the Crucifix.

Don't ever let anyone or anything -- nay, not a trial -- cause you to believe otherwise. Nor besmirch another's path. His design operates in other dimensions. Never resist what He has in store for you! For what He designs will bring you joy that lasts. He knows you like you could not know yourself. He knows who you really are because He created you. What we design (if not made with Him) passes into nothingness. What will last longer, a ship that man has built or an island that God has; a fluorescent light or the sun; a skyscraper or Mount Everest?

"If it be Thy Will, take this cup from Me; if not, let Your Will be done." The Plan was a great one. It was realized by looking from the Cross and then up and beyond it, into eternity, where every trial on earth will one day make perfect sense.

[resources: A Life of Blessings and Michael Brown retreats: Seattle, Portland]

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