Tonight as I took my pugs out for their nightly walk, I couldn’t help gazing at the moon. It was a brightly-glowing perfect half-circle, so vivid against the deep blue sky. And it reminded me of the children’s book The Moon is Always Round by Jonathan Gibson.

In the book, a small boy observes the different shapes of the moon at different times of the year, and his father reminds him that no matter what it may look like, the moon is always round.

Often we have days when we can’t see or feel God working in our lives. Sometimes it seems our prayers go unanswered or we are stuck in a hopeless rut. And when bad things happen, it’s easy to wonder if God is even really present at all. This past weekend, a truck plowed through a soccer field of kids and fans, leaving two dead and many injured. Where is God when random tragedy strikes?

These are instances when we must rely not on what we see, but on what we know.

Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What a beautiful confirmation of the truth. Even when we can’t see or feel God, He is with us and He loves us. Always.

Just as the earth shadows our view of the moon, our knowledge is shadowed by the limited understanding of our humanness. We may get a glimpse of God’s fullness here and there, but we cannot fully understand His grand and perfect plan. So we must trust what He says. 

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” (Psalm 23:4)

This is the amazingly comforting reassurance we as Christians have. Though our emotions may sway depending on the circumstances of life, the moon is always round, and our loving God is always there.