Our Goldilocks universe
They tell me I live in a Goldilocks universe. They say that if conditions weren’t just right, nothing would exist as it does today. Life couldn’t survive on this planet. I wouldn’t be here. Everything is just right.
For example, the force of gravity is just right. It’s strong enough to hold the individual planets and solar systems together, but weak enough to keep everything from crashing into one giant blob.
And the universe is expanding at just the right rate. If that rate was any higher, the speed would overcome gravity. Nothing—not the planets or the stars or the galaxies—would be able to stick together. If it was any lower, gravity would outweigh it, and everything in the universe would collapse in on itself. (Source: “A Fine-Tuned Universe.”)
They tell me the force of gravity, the rate of expansion, and many smaller aspects of Creation are all just right.
And yet everything seems so wrong. With my life, with my country, with my world. Too much suffering. Too much pain. Too much strife and division.
I want a Goldilocks world. One where everything is always just right.
Our Goldilocks world
But was Goldilocks’ world really so perfect?
No. In every case—the chairs, the porridge, the beds—she had to try three different options in order to find the just-right one. And when she found the just-right chair, she broke it.
Maybe that’s more like the real world than the idealistic phrase “Goldilocks universe” implies. I do often find the just-right in this life. I do have those special moments of deep satisfaction and lingering pleasure. But it usually requires trying out a few unpleasant choices first.
Sitting in the too-hard and too-soft chairs. Experiencing discomfort.
Breaking the one that suits me the best. Facing a painful loss.
Sampling the too-hot and too-cold porridge. Being burned and placed in a distasteful situation.
Lying in the too-soft and too-hard beds. Unable to meet my needs.
God’s just-right plan
Sometimes I think that if I’m really following God’s will, if every choice I make is the one He’s designed for me, I won’t have to try the hot and cold porridge or the hard and soft chairs and beds. He’ll bypass those and take me directly to the just-right ones.
But does He? In His perfect plan for each of us, can we expect every step to be one of personal comfort and satisfaction and success? Not in my experience. Or in the Bible.
Joseph suffered through a long period of slavery and separation from his family before his dreams were realized (Genesis 37 to 43). David was oppressed by Saul for several years before he could claim his crown (1 Samuel 16 to 2 Samuel 5). These situations aren’t described by the Bible as punishments for sin. They were painful and difficult experiences inflicted by Satan on God’s chosen men, which the Lord used to grow His people and further His own purposes.
Maybe my idea of just right is very different from God’s. Just right for me means easily finding a fulfilling career, having great relationships, and using my gifts to minister to others. If something bad does happen, just right means knowing His loving presence and peace so well, and being surrounded by so many understanding and supportive people, that it barely hurts. Minimum suffering. Maximum satisfaction.
But maybe God’s just right includes sampling different chairs and porridges and beds (and breaking the best chair). Maybe these events don’t only happen when I miss His guidance. Maybe I can be right on track, following Him faithfully, and still suffer the weariness and disappointment of having to try multiple options before reaching the path that I’m longing for.
My just-right life
For example, change has always been very stressful to me. I liked school as a child, but I’d get so many butterflies in my stomach when the time came to return to the classroom after a long summer vacation that I’d become nauseous and want to stay home.
As the years passed, I learned to recognize my fear of change and deal with my natural feelings in a healthier way. (Becoming a Christian during my early teens definitely helped.) I learned to look forward to new adventures rather than letting the anxiety of the unknown rule in my heart.
Then, while I was in college, I gradually and unexpectedly sank into a major suicidal depression. I began struggling with emotions that I’d never experienced before. As a nerd, of course I looked for the root cause.
I eventually realized that during the preceding months, I’d made several decisions that led to huge changes. For example, I took some time off from school to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I traveled with a group of strangers to see the world and “fell in love” with one of them, only to have to say a permanent good-bye when the period of exploration ended.
Yes, I’d learned to cope with change in most cases, but I found myself caught up in too many too-big changes in too short a time. I became convinced that the stress of change was what triggered my depression, even though most of the changes were good ones. (I probably also had a genetic predisposition—people on both sides of my family had suffered from a similar condition.)
For months, maybe years, I beat myself up with regret for the decisions I’d made. I must not have understood God’s leading as well as I thought I had. Suicidal depression couldn’t possibly be His will for me. If I’d only done things differently, I wouldn’t be in this pit. I yearned for the life I could have had if I’d just avoided some of that stress.
It took a while, but I finally realized that I was wrong. I had followed God’s will as well as I was able to. I had made the right choices. He had led me into and through this valley of the shadow of death (see my article, “God Leads Me,” in Anchored Voices). And He used that experience to grow me and bless me and increase my impact on the world around me in ways that couldn’t have happened without it. It was part of His plan for me. It was my just-right life.
A Goldilocks universe doesn’t mean one free from suffering and pain. God has set things up so that I can have life—even eternal life!—but on this side of heaven there will always be times when I have to sit in the too-hard and too-soft chairs (breaking the just-right one) and taste the too-hot and too-cold porridge and lie in the too-hard and too-soft beds. This world includes trials and traumas and fears and frustrations. But if I follow Him faithfully, it will be just right.
