Dear Confused:
The Bible says that God created the heavens (plural) and the earth. It’s a fact, there are other galaxies — and they’re visible through the Hubble telescope — and each galaxy has billions of stars. The Bible tells us that God has numbered and named each star, but the Bible doesn’t label the galaxies for us. That’s OK. The Bible doesn’t tell us everything.

Consider why God gave us the Bible. Was it to teach us everything about everything? Or was it to reveal himself to us? I believe the latter. The Bible teaches us an awful lot, but it doesn’t teach us how to do calculus, how to cook or how to put together a résumé. It’s a book of absolute Truth, but its main purpose is to show us how to have a relationship with Christ, have our sins forgiven, live forever and share our faith. It’s also our road map for life: It gives us comfort, guidance and helps us discern God’s will.

Though Genesis talks a lot about creation, and other books are filled with history, poetry, adventure and romance, it’s not a novel, a science text or a mystery. You can be OK with not having all your questions answered by the Bible. Just keep your eyes on the Author.

By the way, the closest galaxy to our Milky Way is the Andromeda Galaxy—which is visible to the naked eye in a fairly dark sky—and it’s 2.5 million light years away from us.

Dear Susie:
In the last three years, my life has turned upside down. My grandparents, pets and one of my uncles have all died; plus two friends have betrayed me, and my father died when I was 6. Every morning when I wake up, I wonder why I should even get out of bed and go to school.

My mom and my youth pastor think I should go see a counselor, but I don’t want to. I just want the pain to go away. I’ve cut myself for the last few weeks, and my friends are worried about me. My mom doesn’t trust me to leave me alone at home. I’m in a Christian home, and I accepted Christ at an early age, but I just can’t seem to get out of this despondency.
Desperate

Dear Desperate:
Whew! You’re juggling quite a bit of pain. With all you’ve been through, it’s normal to want to stay in bed. First of all, I’m so sorry you’re hurting. I wish I could take the pain away! Please know that cutting is never the answer! God wants healing for you, not destruction.

But I’m glad to read that you have friends who are concerned about you—along with your mom and youth pastor. It sounds as though you’re surrounded with a solid group of people who love you, but you’re not taking advantage of it. Why not?

Go ahead and let them help. When you need to cry, do it. When you need a hug, tell a friend or your mom, and get it. When you don’t feel you can climb out of bed for the day, tell God all about it. He hasn’t abandoned you, and He wants to bring restoration to your life.

I realize you don’t want to see a counselor, but I think you need to. He or she can help you sort through the pain and help you put the broken pieces of your life together again.

Though you feel like you’ll never laugh again, I promise it will get better. How can I say that? Because of what the Bible says. I especially love these two verses the way The Living Bible has paraphrased them:

“O my soul, why be so gloomy and discouraged? Trust in God! I shall again praise him for his wondrous help; he will make me smile again, for he is my God!” (Psalm 43:5 The Living Bible).

“But O my soul, don’t be discouraged. Don’t be upset. Expect God to act! For I know that I shall again have plenty of reason to praise him for all that he will do. He is my help! He is my God!” (Psalm 42:11 The Living Bible).