Not that I’m anywhere near having kids, but I asked my mom the other day, “Do you think it would be even okay to bring a kid into the world right now knowing how crazy it is?”
How sad of a thought is that? Now that I’ve type it out I realize how hopeless it seems. But thankfully my mom didn’t let me take that hopeless perspective. She reminded me that God is always working and you never know what He’s up to. He’ll rescue and restore His people.
No matter where we stand, I’m sure we can all agree things feel hopeless. But I’m confident we’ll be laughing again one day, and even in the crazy uncertainty of today, we can still find reasons to smile. Our God is still good, and He’s up to something.
“Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." John 13:7
I’m not saying that God causes all of the bad things to happen, because Jesus tells us that “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for his sheep.” (John 10:10-11)
And He also says that, “Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.” (James 1:17)
He’s a good God who does good things, but there’s always more going on than we think. We have an enemy that works oppositely of the Good Shepherd and he’s on a mission to destroy every good thing. He seems to be doing a pretty good job lately.
That’s why our faith is so important. We’ve got to trust and keep praying (even when it seems hopeless) that God will do something.
Jesus told His disciples that they didn’t understand what He was doing shortly before He went to the cross. He was about to do the greatest thing anyone could ever do and offer the most important gift, and nobody could understand what was happening or why. And imagine the disappointment His disciples faced when the exciting thing Jesus was doing meant He was going to die — and they didn’t know He’d be coming back. Those three days were probably miserable for them.
You never know what big thing God might be up to. I’ve been reading a lot of the Old Testament lately, and I will say that those people did a lot of waiting and I’m sure they felt really hopeless. It’s quite encouraging to read about all of their struggles, because eventually God brought them out.
And good news! He hasn’t changed. He’s still good and He’s still working. We need to be the strong, faith-filled children He calls us to be.
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