Chosen Despite Disastrous Defeat

“He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.” // Mark 1:45

“It was a disastrous defeat, in which Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons . . . were among the dead.” // 1 Samuel 4:10-11

The door shook with each bang and the slow, guttural voice said, “Monster . . . .” It was my seven year old. He stood next to the four year old as she slipped pieces of paper under the door and squealed, “Hearts!” She described them in detail, though I could not make out what she was saying over the sound of the running water and her ghoulish brother.

I dried my hands, opened the locked bathroom door, and stepped out into the hall. The preteens were coming towards me, bickering and tattling. A different child was wheezing in my direction and holding his nebulizer box. I scolded the zombie child, yelled at the two annoyed middle schoolers, half-heartedly praised my artistic daughter, and helped my asthmatic son with an abundance of impatience.

“People kept coming to [me] from everywhere,” and “it was a disastrous defeat” (Mark 1:45 & 1 Samuel 4:10).

This kind of situation is quite common in my life and, in the midst of those sequences, where I am the only adult tending to my eight kids, I usually feel incredibly alone and completely frazzled. But when those moments are through I often find solace in two ways.

First, I remember that the Lord knows how exasperating it is to be overwhelmed and frustrated by the very people we love and want to serve. Next, I remember that the Israelites and their leaders made a lot of mistakes—even losing the Ark!—and yet God continued to choose them.

No matter the disastrous defeats we encounter, the Lord still chooses us. He understands, and He continues to choose us.

The Lord still chooses us. // Bonnie Engstrom Click to tweet

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