Our current situation seems chaotic. A massive hurricane hitting the Gulf coast this week; Delta variant overwhelming hospitals again; Evacuations in Afghanistan; Christians being hunted down and killed around the world; Racial tension still evident; State and Federal government strong-arming one another; Rising flood waters in Tennessee killing innocent people. We look around and wonder where is God?
While we as believers know God has not left us, our human side wonders, “Is He in control?” “Does He even care about my situation, my anxiety, my story?” These past several months have revealed we are more fragile and vulnerable than we care to admit.
Job is a story about a man who worshiped the Living God. His story is found in the Old Testament. He’s living the American dream one day and the next, he’s lost everything: his business, his livestock, his children, his health. However, he never loses his faith but he does have some questions for God.
Job begins to ask God about his current state, wondering where God is in his story. By chapter 38, God has had enough and answers Job’s questions, not with answers but with more questions. God asks beginning in Job 38, ““Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?Tell me, if you know so much.
Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb, and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness?
For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores. I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop!’ Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?
As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal; it is robed in brilliant colors. The light disturbs the wicked and stops the arm that is raised in violence. Have you explored the springs from which the seas come? Have you explored their depths?
Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom? Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me about it if you know!”
King David also knew that just be looking around us in nature and the cosmos, God’s presence is revealed. David says in Psalms 19:1-4 that if you and I would just slow down, go outside and look up, we’d see that God is with us. Nature itself screams the glory and presence of God.
As Christ-followers, we worship a God who is so much bigger than we are! He knows and sees what we do not. There’s something comforting about worshipping a God that big.
My prayer is we’d realize we are not in control but He is. At the end of Job’s story in Job 42:5, Job says, “I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.” Job went from hearing about God to seeing God; from knowing about God to knowing God. May you truly know God is with you during these difficult times. May you feel the peace in your life that only He can provide. Blessings on the journey.