The current reality we all live in crumbles the idealistic vision of a perfect world. It portrays a world of sickness, death, criminal/racial injustices, and biases. The governments placed to serve, sometimes act with selfish motives, rejecting accountability and transparency to serve, but have their own vested interests as priority.
All this with the backdrop of the COVID-19 crisis and the race inequality conversations. This was a part of the conversation I had with a coworker, who ultimately put forward this question.
"Where do you see God in all this?"
I contemplated on the several aspects of this question from a believer’s standpoint, as I could sense the disillusionment and uncertainty in her question.
We need to understand, that the God we serve, is very much present in our everyday pain and anxiety. When God sees brokenness in this world, he does not react with frustration or anger. But his heart is broken.
Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. And said, where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. John 11:32-35
In the story of Lazarus, we read that Jesus wept for the family of Lazarus. We see Christ’s tender sympathy with his afflicted friends and the share he took to himself to partake in their grief in three different ways- the inward groans, troubled spirit and he wept. He shows his concern for them, as he enquires about whereabouts of his burial place, even though he was all knowing, thus expressing himself as man, even when he was going to exert and manifest the power of God by bringingLazarus back to life again.
The current situations, particularly the COVID 19 crises has opened our minds to the frailty of life. The fear that grips the human heart when struggling to breathe, seeing death face to face. Avery humbling experience, in my perspective. Humility and dependence on God are prime life lessons that we need to learn and discipline our hearts to practice daily to experience the surpassing peace and presence of God in our crisis situations. Humility is one of the greatest teachers with the hardest of lessons.
So, teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psalm 90:12
This scripture allows us to understand the depth of our dependence on God and realize that every passing moment, every breath we take so effortlessly without having to give a moment of thought, isa gift, freely given by the grace of the Almighty. The Psalmist paints a wonderful picture of the frailty of life in this simple verse and says, “lord give us the grace to understand how few our days are and how short a while we have to live on this earth”.
It is through humility and dependence on God, that we experience the presence of God in our brokenness.
God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? Hebrews 13:5-6
We see the promise of God’s presence and the anchor we have in saying, God is my helper, and he indeed walks with me through the valley of shadow of death.
Brokenness is all around us. Is there a purpose in having to go through brokenness, loss or suffering whether it be in our personal lives or having to be a friend to someone going through it?
Yes, there is a divine purpose in all that we go through here on earth. Jesus said,” I come to serve and not to be served.” He went to the needy, the sick and the dying because there is a sovereign purpose for God in all the brokenness we go through in this world.
We are pilgrims on a journey during our brief life on earth. Our eternity is with our savior. May we experience the peace and comfort of God in our brokenness, and be a source of compassion, healing, and grace to the world around us during this time.
