“Even when I don’t see it, You’re working.”
This line is so powerful! This is what faith is all about! Faith is about trusting God when there is no logical explanation. It is to stop listening to our hearts and to start listening to his promises. It means to acknowledge that God’s work can’t be measured by how we feel, but by what he already promised us! I want to speak to your heart and help you reflect on ways God is still working in the middle of this pandemic.
In 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Paul provides a strategy for how to deal with sickness, persecution or pain. The verse says: “16That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” In what ways is God still working in our lives in the middle of these difficult times? How is God being glorified in the middle of hardship? Here are 4 ideas:
1) We get to learn how to suffer with Christ
To suffer with Christ is a privilege. It is a privilege to experience Christ in a deeper way when suffering. It is a privilege to shine his glory after the suffering. It is a privilege to have Christ as the one and only in which we can lean on. God is being glorified in our lives when we suffer because our faith gets stronger and so does our relationship with Him.
2) We get to look for hope beyond this temporary life
Let’s be real, this is all temporary. We are here for a short period of time. In the middle of suffering, our hope shifts from things of this world to the one and only creator of heavens. Our future plans start to look brighter because we rest in the promise that one day we will be with God, forever.
3) We get to learn to persevere
It is a blessing to persevere. Paul taught that perseverance is acquired through trials, therefore, we thank God for the difficult times in our lives because He is working in our character! God ultimately gets the glory when we shine his light through our lives. Perseverance helps us grow as Christians, which helps us to reach those who need to hear about Jesus.
4) We get to see that God is good when things are not good
God is still good. Always. One of the prophets in the Bible named Habakkuk once questioned God’s goodness because he was witnessing the suffering of God’s chosen people. Habakkuk couldn’t see it. He couldn’t see Him working, but God commanded this prophet to be silent, and wait. Habakkuk ends with the conclusion to his questions when he says:
“Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
even though the olive crop fails,
and the fields lie empty and barren;
even though the flocks die in the fields,
and the cattle barns are empty,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord!
I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength!
He makes me as surefooted as a deer,[a]
able to tread upon the heights.”
God’s sovereignty is our strength. He can do it all. He is in control and he has always been. He is good even when things are not. If God is constant, we should be in constant satisfaction with whatever He does or doesn’t do. He is still working!
Written by Gabriel Ortega,
Worship Team volunteer at Wellspring Church
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