Redemptive Ramblings

Why do you complain, Jacob?

    Why do you say, Israel,

“My way is hidden from the Lord;

    my cause is disregarded by my God”?

Do you not know?

    Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

    the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

    and his understanding no one can fathom.

Isaiah 40:27-28

I think we all have times when we feel like God is not watching, or like our cause has been overlooked by him. This is especially true in the middle of the hardest days. There are times when we look and think that surely, if God were good, if He were trustworthy, He would not overlook this need I have. He would move on my behalf in this situation; he would… whatever that is for you. In the moment, our needs can seem incredibly urgent. But in these verses we find reassurance that God is not tired, he’s not taking a break, he’s not ignoring our needs or our causes. The Lord is everlasting, meaning he has no end and no beginning. That is hugely different from anything I have experienced as a human; my finite little brain isn’t even sure how to process that. But one thing I know is that if I can’t understand the concept that God exists in, I surely can’t understand his action or inaction well enough to judge it.

Surely Hagar felt abandoned by God when she was forced to flee from Sarah. As a slave, Hagar had no rights, and she was first forced by Sarah to sleep with Abraham in the hope of producing a son for him, then mistreated by Sarah because she got pregnant, even though it was Sarah’s plan. Hagar fled into the wilderness, and as she rested, the Lord spoke to her. Genesis 16 tells us that she called the place Be’er Lahai Roi, the “Well of the God Who Sees Me.” God didn’t change her situation. In fact, He sent her back to Sarah with the instruction to submit to her. But Hagar knew she was seen, and knowing that made a difference to her.

Maybe we don’t understand why God doesn’t change our circumstances right now, but if we remember that He sees us, we can find peace in the knowledge that He knows what He’s doing. Finding peace in God during hard times isn’t something that happens naturally. It’s a choice we make when we remember that He is so much bigger and more active in our lives than we usually give Him credit for. Today, make a decision to purposefully rest in knowing that God is at work in your life right now, even if you can’t see it.