A woman gave her teenage son a used automobile. The youth enjoyed racing the car around curves so he could hear the tires squeal. One morning his car skidded and smashed into a telephone pole. The boy was thrown through the windshield and was rushed to a hospital. When his pastor reached the hospital, the boy's mother was frantic. She grasped the pastor's hands in hers and exclaimed, "Why would God let this happen?"

Her question is understandable, but it misses the hard truth of the situation. She can't blame God for that accident. If the Lord were to suspend the laws of physics and snatch a telephone pole from in front of her son, He might just as well place one in front of someone else who was driving carefully.

If the law of gravity works to keep me from flying into space, I cannot expect it to go into reverse if I step out of a 10th-floor window. God doesn't cancel the rule of sowing and reaping just because we become Christians. But there is an upside to that principle. If we sow "to the Spirit [we] will of the Spirit reap everlasting life" (Gal. 6:8). With that in mind, "Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart" (v.9).

What do you expect to reap?  — Haddon W. Robinson