Will God Show Up?
The news has not been a fun place lately.
Conflicts are brewing in multiple parts of the globe. Our dollars continue to grow weaker in the face of inflation. On Saturday night, a Pennsylvania rally group witnessed an attempted assassination of a former US president.
Perhaps your own life is similarly chaotic and wearying at this moment. You’re watching things spiral out of control around you. You’re crying out to God, but being left with more questions than answers. As you struggle with day-to-day life, you wonder, “Will God ever show up?”
This week’s Psalm gives us much needed reminders of who God is and what He has done. The Psalm 136 has 26 verses, each concluding with a choral chant, “His steadfast love endures forever” (ESV). Something occurred to me while reading through God’s victories in the middle portion: in each of these instances, God didn’t act right away.
The Psalm reads, “To him who divided the Red Sea in two” (13), “To him who led his people through the wilderness” (16), and “To him who struck down great kings” (17).
God allowed Pharaoh to terrorize the Israelites in exile for many generations before bringing them out of Egypt. He allowed Israel to wander in the wilderness for 40 years before Joshua led them into the promised land. He allowed countless corrupt kings to rule Israel over centuries that followed.
To those enduring these trying times, it may have appeared God was absent, or needlessly delaying His deliverance. But we now see that He was working every step of the way.
In His mercy, God allowed Pharaoh and the Egyptians plenty of opportunities to turn from their evil and release the Israelites. They refused, so He dealt with them Himself.
In the wilderness, God taught His people complete dependence on Him by providing the manna for their daily food. (They would fail to obey His instructions)
Through many corrupt kings in and around Israel, God exposed the insufficiency of human leadership for maintaining order within the community. In response, He brought along men to prophesy of a coming King who would one day fix all of it.
At the time this psalm was written, the people of God had yet to see half of what we now look back on - the coming of Christ, His death and resurrection, the explosion of the church in the first century. Yet even at that point, the psalmist had abundant evidence to trust in God and to praise Him.
This dark, evil, and broken world we live in, will be fixed. Replaced, in fact, with something far greater than we could ever comprehend.
It is easy to think that God has allowed things to get out of control. That justice is long overdue. But we can look back on all He has done, all He has shown us He is, and know that He will carry out His redemptive plan at the perfect time. And in the meantime, we can be assured that our waiting is not in vain.
Though we often cannot see it, every trying moment along the way is being used as a step in that plan. He is never out of control. He is never off target. He is never late.
Friend, have faith in Him today. Have faith in Him no matter how chaotic your days become, how depressing the world around you appears. Have faith in a God who has already shown up, and will again.
Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:5,
“You are being protected by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials so that the genuineness of your faith—more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
~Jared Grenfell and his wife Grace have have been active members of the LIFE Fellowship community for several years and lead a young adult LIFE Community. Jared has served in various roles on the LIFE Worship team including Music Director.