“If God never did another thing for you, would you still love Him?”

My husband’s question crackled to me over the cell phone static. We were facing our second miscarriage in three months. We’d been so sure this pregnancy was the answer to our prayers and grief. And the situation did not look good. I pulled my car out of the Target parking lot into the rainy day traffic and thought about what he was asking me.

I knew the answer I was “supposed” to say. It should have been an immediate “yes.” But in the face of more pain and sorrow, the question deserved some thought. I watched the wipers shove the water back and forth across the windshield. We’d been studying Joshua in our Bible study and our group had discussed that all of the things God did for the Israelites served to reveal more of His character. He revealed His goodness, His sovereignty, His judgment, His strength, and His faithfulness by the circumstances that He allowed to happen in the lives of His creation.

Because He loved His people, He chose to reveal himself in very tangible, practical ways. When he gave Jericho over to the Israelites, he used a completely ridiculous battle plan to prove that He was the protector of his people and that He alone decided who lived where (Joshua 6:1-26). When he punished Achen, he revealed that He is the Great Judge. It was a painful but very powerful revelation of God’s character (Joshua 7:16).