Sometimes kindness means not giving a person what they’re asking for, and that may appear as unkind to them. When a parent says no to a child’s request, the parent may be acting in the child’s best interest, but the child may not be able to see that at the time. When God says no to us, it may appear unkind, but we know He always acts in our best interest.
So far, God has chosen not to grant my requests for our son to be healed of cerebral palsy. But God has certainly brought good out of that situation! For one thing, God used Shon’s premature birth and disability to show my husband and me that we weren’t in control of all of our circumstances. God also used these situations to bring about our salvation, and now these challenges keep us close to Jesus, which is definitely a good thing!
I have been in situations where my intentions were to be helpful, such as trying to help people resolve a conflict, but I ended up being accused of things that weren’t true. In such situations, I need to trust God to work things out.
As in all things with God, kindness is an attitude of the heart (and that’s what God looks at: our motives). People may misjudge our actions, but we have to let God handle that. Our responsibility is to make sure our conscience is clear before the Lord. Then we will experience His perfect peace, regardless of circumstances.
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