I am currently reading through Harry Potter for the first time (and loving it). In The Order of the Pheonix (the book I am currently reading), I was struck by the rebuke that the cranky Phineas Nigellius gave to Harry Potter when Harry complained about Dumbledore’s mysterious and confusing activities. If you haven’t read the book, all you need to know is that no one should question Dumbledore because he is the kindest, wisest, and most righteous wizard around.

Phineas’ rebuke to Harry stuck out to me because it can, almost word-for-word, be used as a rebuke to believers who question the ways Jesus is working in their own lives.

Here is what Phineas says:

You know, this is precisely why I loathed being a teacher! Young people are so infernally convinced that they are absolutely right about everything. Has it not occurred to you, my poor puffed-up popinjay that there might be an excellent reason why the headmaster of Hogwarts is not confiding every tiny detail of his plans to you? Have you never paused, while feeling hard-done-by, to note that following Dumbledore’s orders has never yet lead you into harm? No. No, like all young people, you are quite sure that you alone feel and think, you alone recognise danger, you alone are the only one clever enough to realise what the Dark Lord may be planning

So, believer, taking Phineas’ lead, I ask you:

Has it not occurred to you, my poor puffed-up popinjay that there might be an excellent reason why the (Holy Lord of the Universe) is not confiding every tiny detail of his plans to you? Have you never paused, while feeling hard-done-by, to note that following (Jesus’) orders has never yet lead you into harm?

For readers of Harry Potter, you know questioning Dumbledore is never OK. For readers of the Bible, we should know the same is infinitely more true of Jesus.

Brother and sister, when times get hard, remember who the perfectly good, righteous, wise, and loving one is in your relationship with Christ and allow that to temper how you react to his sometimes mysterious ways.

As Spurgeon said, “God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.”