Recently I read that when a giraffe is born, its front hooves and head emerge first. Suddenly, the baby is catapulted ten feet from its mother’s body, landing on its back. It rolls to an upright position with its legs tucked under its body. Rather startled, it shakes any birthing fluid from its body and takes its first look at the world.
The mother giraffe takes a quick look at her offspring and then, surprisingly, kicks it, sending it sprawling head over heels. If it doesn’t stand up straightaway she kicks it again and again until the calf stands up on its wobbly legs. Once steady, the mother kicks it off its feet again! Honestly, animal activists would have a field day with mother giraffes!!!
Apparently, the mother’s actions are to ensure her baby will remember how to get up. It’s a tough world. In the wild, baby giraffes have to be able to get up quickly, to stay with the herd to avoid becoming a meal for predators such as lions, hyenas or wild dogs. To ensure her calf has the necessary survival skills, the mother has to teach it the hard way to get up quickly and be ready to mobilise itself.
Life can be tough. We don’t always understand why a loving God allows bad things to happen to us. Sometimes we seem to suffer a whole stream of catastrophes one after another we feel like we’re being kicked again and again when we’re down. Like the story of Job, losing his herds, his family, his health through no fault of his own.
We may be tempted to think that God doesn’t care. What kind of Father would treat his children like that? It may be hard to see when we’re in the middle of the experiences, because we’re in the middle of it all but God sees and knows the end. It maybe that these experiences are preparing us for what He knows will happen in the future, or maybe to prepare us to help others going through something similar.
Call out to the Lord. He knows and cares. He has your best interests at heart.
Romans 8:28
‘We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.’