How
do you translate your trust in God? especially after trusting for a
considerable amount of time you end up with fatal disappointment. You gather up
all your shattered pieces of your dreams and start hoping again to find out it
was a hopeless (and you are hit much harder this time) exercise all along. It
was just another calm before the next devastating storm. Nothing was better nor
becoming better. In fact, you realize life has become harder than ever. You
convince yourself not to hope again and brace yourself for another hit, may be
even harder the next time. This reminds us
of the situation of Israelites when they hoped in the words of Moses that
God is going to deliver them from the bondage only to find that their work has become more strenuous and painful (Exodus
5:6-8) to an extent that all their hope just shattered.
It
stirs up a range of emotions and doubts in a situation like this whether all
this is happening because of your past sin that has brought you to the current stage of brokenness
or Satan has determined to bring you to your knees or if God is testing you to find your
consistency in trusting God. My friend, if this best describes you I just want
to encourage you that you are not alone in a battle like this, there are so
many children of God out there who go through the same struggle trying hard to
find an answer.
We
live in times where it's hard to find people who would even spare a minute of
theirs to lend a listening ear. They all claim to love God and be disciples of
Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, the best encouragement we get is through
depersonalized forwarded messages in the WhatsApp or a false
assurance of prayers most of the time. I have heard people who go through
struggles say they are totally disconnected from people who love God because
they act as strangers fearing they will be asked for help. Most of the time we
see even Christian leaders who are in prominent positions portray great image
of the love of God but turn a blind eye to the brokenness of the people in the
pews or who come to them, in whatever setting. How do we comprehend all of
this? where is the early church model
who shared, who cared and who gave out of their scarcity?
I
strongly feel that there are two major reasons for the pain, suffering and
disappointments. Firstly, I personally need to understand that God is shaping
me as an individual and making me to understand that there is a greater purpose
to the pain and suffering. Each of my disappointments has been necessary. If
they were not, God would not have brought them. Finding God in the midst of the
challenges should be our greatest goal. From the life of Joseph, we learn to
trust every time we suffer loss, God is preparing us for something greater.
Therefore, as the pain grows more intense, we need to realize that we need to
find God in the present and not wait for the circumstances to improve. I
like the quote of Vaneetha Rendall, a writer, who puts it this way, “God
wanted me to find him sufficient in the midst of trouble rather than just
demanding that he deliver me from it.”. The second major reason for the
existence of pain and suffering is (and I am personally convinced) to give
continuous opportunity for Churches and the people who claim to be His
disciples to exemplify the Love of Christ through their interventions to the
poor and needy who live among them and make its mission complete. Whatever the
case be let us strongly remain convinced that He is in control and watches over
us because every individual is created in the image of God and for a greater
purpose.
I
think it is also important to understand God’s Sovereignty in
such context. The sovereignty of God refers to the fact that God is
in complete control of the universe. A belief in God’s sovereignty is distinct
from fatalism. What do I mean by fatalism? “It is a philosophical doctrine
holding that all events are predetermined in advance for all time and human
beings are powerless to change them”. It is important to understand that God
does not allow everything to happen, yet he does allow all that happens to
happen. Ultimately God’s will is going to be accomplished. We can rest in the
fact that our God is actually able to work all things for our good (Romans
8:28), even when we cannot readily see how that may happen. I want to
conclude by putting down what Maxwell quotes, which is so clear and precise:
- Not everything that happens conforms to God’s will and wishes.
- Nothing that happens gets overlooked by God.
- Everything that happens will ultimately be addressed with justice.
- Nothing that happens should distract us from continuing to respond faithfully.
Blessings,
David Raj
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