Scorpion Venom pt. 2

Between short prayers for the little girl and nervous evaluations of the weather that was building on all sides of the valley, I tried to imagine what it would be like to be the parent of a 2-year-old who couldn’t breathe due to a scorpion sting. My youngest daughter is two years old, so putting myself in their place wasn't difficult. I was pretty sure that if we were in a village without medical help and I faced the option of waiting an hour and a half for an airplane that may or may not arrive or taking my chances and leaving right away in a truck… I probably couldn’t just sit there waiting. The urge to do something, anything, would have been overpowering. Most likely, I would’ve taken the truck.

But I had made it. I had been able to land and take off again, and instead of being half an hour from a doctor’s care, the girl would now be waiting five hours at least.

I didn’t know what happened to her until a week later. The storm that hit twenty minutes after I landed back in Tepic was fierce, and electrical and phone lines were down all over the state, including in her village. When power was restored, I called the pastor.

The girl had passed away.

I thought for a long time about whether or not to include that heartbreaking news. This story would be a lot more upbeat if it were simply an adventure story of a rushed flight between thunderstorms with a safe landing and home for supper as an ending. But it would’ve been an empty story. Stories are powerful and have the ability to impact us deeply, but to be impactful, it can’t be an empty story. My last story celebrated God’s providence, care, and attention to small things. In stark contrast, this kind of story provokes questions. Why? Couldn’t God have done something? What was the point?

I’ve often prayed for her parents. What must they be going through? I wondered what impact this story would have on others. That scorpion’s venom could poison more than a child’s body. Like all grief, it could poison the souls of all who know the story, especially those who knew her.

I’ve also thought about the possible purpose of these events. The overall picture, the complete story, will never be fully known in this lifetime. But I do believe that God is in control and is at work in every detail of every story.

“The faith to trust God in adversity comes through the Word of God alone. It is only in the scriptures that we find an adequate view of God’s relationship to and involvement in our painful circumstances. It is only from the Scriptures, applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, that we receive the grace to trust God in adversity.” Trusting God by Jerry Bridges.

In the Bible, we encounter a God who submitted Himself to wounds and tragedy. In the story of the Cross, we find Christ, who can empathize with our every grief.

“But to our wounds, only God’s wounds can speak, and no god has wounds, but Thou alone." Jesus of the Scars Edward Shillito

The story of the Cross is the anti-venom.

Questions and “what ifs” remain, but God has purposefully placed us here to serve, and it is here that we will continue to be ready to answer the next call—the outcome we will entrust to Him.