• He Could Have

    By: Kristen L. McNulty

    Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.

    A few years ago I got a sinus infection that wouldn't go away. I saw multiple doctors, tried nasal rinses and flushes and meds and nothing seemed to work. Finally, pretty much one year ago to the day, I underwent sinus surgery to open things up and heal the infection. But not only did I experience life-threatening complications after the surgery, but here we are like I said nearly a year later, and the sinus infection is still there. 

    Questioning God


    Recently while coming back after travelling a great distance to see yet another doctor, I came home feeling really frustrated after hearing yet again that everything I tried works for everyone else, but just isn't working for me. In that place I couldn't help but question God and ask why He isn't healing me or at least giving me a break? He could have made the antibiotics work. He could have made the surgery go perfectly. He could have let the root of the problem be something easy for the doctors to figure out. He could have allowed this problem to end years ago, instead of it still persisting to this date. He could have stopped it from happening in the first place. He could have.

    And this doesn't just apply to my situation. In fact, compared to what others are facing, my never-ending sinus infection is nothing. He could have stopped the car from spinning out of control. He could have slowed down the growth of the cancer. He could have stopped the child from leaving home. He could have saved your job. He could have.

    Another Side To The Statement


    But I've come to realize that there is another side to this "He could have" statement. He could have destroyed mankind completely in the flood. He could have removed His presence completely from earth. He could have spared His son the agony of the cross. He could have left you and I alone to deal with the consequences of sin. He could have.

    You see the way things are now, here on this earth isn't what God intended. He never wanted us to feel the pain of a broken heart. The mind blowing presence of physical pain. Or the overwhelming loss of a loved one. No, that wasn't His intention when He placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But when we as a human race choose to sin, we opened the door up for all of these things. Pain, suffering, and death are all a side-effect of living in a world consumed, and slowly being destroyed, by sin.

    Pain Is Not A Permanent Condition


    So instead of letting us slowly self-destruct for all eternity, He came up with a loving compromise to our disobedience. A plan b. He lets us choose sin, He lets us feel pain, but He has taken the permanence away from our problems. Because while right now we feel the side-effects of sin- the pain, the despair, the loneliness, the loss, it's not a permanent condition.

    Through the death of Jesus, the doors were opened for an eternity free from sin and thus the pain and suffering that comes with it. Those who've accepted Christ as their Saviour will get to live in a world free from tragedy and headlines and grief.

    An Amazing Promise


    So while today we feel pain, we know it is not permanent. Though we suffer today, we have been promised an end to all of this pain someday that will last for eternity. And in the meantime, God hasn't left us alone to navigate through this messed up world. Instead He gets down in the dirt with us and helps us walk through even the toughest days of our lives.

    You see when it comes to a perfect eternity or the comfort of His presence today, there is no "He could have". Instead there is a He promises and He delivers.

    Closing with Romans 8:18-25 in the Living Bible:

    "Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. 19 For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day when God will resurrect his children.

    For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay- the things that overcame the world against its will at God's command—will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God's children enjoy. For we know that even the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer in sickness and death as they await this great event.

    And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us—bodies that will never be sick again and will never die.

    We are saved by trusting. And trusting means looking forward to getting something we don’t yet have—for a man who already has something doesn’t need to hope and trust that he will get it. But if we must keep trusting God for something that hasn’t happened yet, it teaches us to wait patiently and confidently."


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