The Favour of God
I was reading the story of Feby, the woman who married Andrew Chan, one of the Australian drug smugglers arrested and subsequently executed in Bali in 2005.
She tells how she was a christian woman drawn to ministering in the prisons where she met and eventually married Andrew. She and many others were praying for a miracle change of heart by the authorities, but just 35 hours after their wedding, he was shot by a firing squad.
She goes on to write:
“On the 27th April, I married Andrew and 35 hours later, he was executed by firing squad.
“I was crushed. I was in a dark, dark place for a long time. I felt so angry and confused. I stopped praying and worshipping God. I was despairing. Why hadn’t God answered our prayers? For a long time, I couldn’t read the Bible or worship God. I couldn’t watch the news. I kept having execution dreams.
“It went on like that for years. My friends sat with me. They gave me tea. And after some time, I went for counselling. It was good, but I knew that I needed more than counselling. I needed to worship God again. I slowly started to talk to God, again.
“I began to read the Psalms and the stories in the Bible that I knew would comfort me. I read about Mary, the mother of Jesus. It was so hard for her to be found pregnant in that society. And yet they called it ‘favour’. When the angel came to speak with Mary, he said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God.’ (Luke 1:30).
“I had no idea, until then, that people could be entrusted with difficult things and it could be called ‘favour’. I had always thought that God entrusts us with good gifts, or with good things and opportunities. But I slowly began to realise that God also entrusts us with very difficult things. It was so hard for Mary. Even after Jesus was born, they had to travel from one place to another, to avoid being killed. And then she saw her son executed on a cross in front of her eyes. And they called it ‘favour’.
“Reading about Mary, and thinking about favour, helped me to pray again, and to worship God. We are all broken. It’s the human condition. But slowly, as I read the Gospels, I began to trust Jesus again.
“God’s will is not the same as mine. Sometimes he says to us, ‘Don’t be afraid to go through the darkest times, if you have Jesus with you. He will comfort you. He will be with you, always.’ That’s been true for me.”
It is true that God’s favour does not necessarily mean fame and riches.
What it does mean is that He calls us to a life of significance and He gives us the grace to live that life. It may not work out the way we would prefer but He can give us the ability to trust that He has us in the palm of His hands even though it is difficult.