06072019 Where Is God?

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings! Will you bear with me this week if I share some personal testimony? I hope this won't come across as self-serving, but I know that sometimes hearing someone else's story can be encouraging without being "preachy."

The apartment I've been living in is not healthy for me, and it became less so last summer, at which time I started looking to buy a home where I can have more control over repairs and such. The basic status is that I am still looking more than nine months later. I've had a few offers rejected, one house that failed a mold test, and lots of dead ends. For my price range, there has been little available that would be acceptable for me.

It has been a frustrating and discouraging process. Earlier this week I imagined non-Christians asking me, "Doesn't God help you with stuff like that? Where is your God?" And I've asked the question myself. It seemed the only answer I could come up with is "I don't know." He hasn't made anything happen. He could have answered this prayer long ago. If I find something at this point, it isn't even going to seem like divine intervention. It is going to seem exactly like the long, drawn-out, difficult struggle that any ordinary person would have looking for a house in this market without God's help.

Actually, that conclusion helped to prompt my thoughts in a good direction. I realized that God does not always choose to actively intervene. That is, God does not act in the same way in every situation or for every person.

There were battles in which God made walls fall down, made armies flee for no reason, made armies turn on each other, or sent hailstones. There were other battles when His people had to go out and fight like "normal."

There were times when God made manna appear on the ground, quails descend in abundance, ravens deliver food, flour miraculously replenish, and loaves multiply. There were other times when people suffered through famine, perhaps needing to relocate, or hide in a wine press to process their hoarded food supply.

There were times when jail doors were opened, when angels led prisoners out, and when earthquakes flattened jails. There were other times when people were imprisoned until they died or were executed.

Jonah's brief preaching brought an unexpected revival, but Jeremiah faced only opposition over long decades.

Sometimes Jesus calmed the storm, but Paul suffered multiple shipwrecks.

James was imprisoned and executed. Peter was told he would be crucified, and when he asked what would happen to John, Jesus told him it didn't matter. If He chose to have John live till He returned, He could do that. God could have chosen a result that different.

Hebrews 11 tells of heroes of faith, some of whom survived lions and fire and were mighty in battle and performed great deeds. Others were sawn asunder and stoned and tortured and imprisoned and wandered as outcasts.

Sometimes God miraculously intervenes in amazing ways. Sometimes He gives answers that make people stand in awe and that boldly declare that He is God. Sometimes, however, God allows nature and human nature to run their normal course. He allows heat or drought or storms or earthquakes to destroy. God sometimes allows diseases to run their normal course. God sometimes allows wicked people to attack and rob and murder. All of these things are true for Christians as well as non-Christians.

Whether in Bible stories or in history or with our own acquaintances, we have seen this disparity. And we ask the questions. Why did God give that person a house or job or spouse or child, but not me? Why did God miraculously heal, provide needed finances, or explode a ministry for that person but not for me?

My thoughts resulted in three categories of questions. First, in those hard circumstances, is God doing nothing? Is He completely detached? Is He unable to control the situation?

Of course, God is never doing nothing. He is always aware, and He is always overseeing. He might purposefully curtail His intervention, but He always CAN intervene. Furthermore, everything is filtered through God's sovereignty. God does say, "This far and no farther."

Second, does God care about the people who are hurting? Does He minister to them? Are the details of the situation too small for Him to take note of?

God always cares. He always loves His children, and He does care about details. If He knows the hairs of our heads, sees us when we sit under trees, sees every bird that falls, and cares for every beast in the wilderness, He knows and cares about the details of our lives.

Third, doesn't God say He will meet our needs? What are needs? Do difficult housing markets or war or famine or prison camps override God's ability to provide?

I think the foundational answer is that God supplies our needs for as long as those needs exist within His plan. In other words, God will provide food for people for as long as He wants those people to live. A Christian might die of starvation in a famine or prison camp, but only when God is finished with him.

Sometimes God is overtly at work, with His hands manipulating the situation, and sometimes He merely sticks His finger in. The difference depends on God's purpose. God's greatest concern is not health, comfort, material provision, or protection. God wants us to know Him. God wants to bring glory to Himself. God wants to conform us to the image of His Son. God wants unbelievers to see Christian faith and endurance.

God's goals cannot always be achieved through the satisfactory answers that we long to see; based on His specific goals for specific situations, He adjusts His level of interaction accordingly. When God doesn't answer according to our prayers, the conclusion has to be that the answer we want is not the answer God wants at this time, or else He would do it. Sometimes the answers we want will come in time, but only after God has accomplished other objectives.

So, where is God? God is not absent. God is overseeing. He may not be making big things happen, but He is influencing details. He is providentially guiding, even if so far that has been only in the negative. Where is God? God is caring for me, walking this path with me, and giving me grace sufficient for the challenge. He is teaching me and giving me just enough encouragement, sometimes at the very hardest times, to continue on.

In order to accomplish His purposes, God is not choosing to give an amazing answer, at least not yet. My job is to trust Him (yes, that's hard) and to yield my purposes to His purposes (and that's hard, too). But He is God. And He is always right.

May God be near you this week and help you through any special challenges you are currently facing.

Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
www.pressingontohigherground.blogspot.com