“When we go through difficult times, it is easy to think God is aloof. We ask, ‘Why me?’ and feel pretty sure we’re not going to get an answer. But even though we might not get the answer we’re looking for, we can be sure of this — God is always working behind the scenes. There is always a meanwhile that will make our pain worthwhile.”- Sharon Jaynes
“Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come close to me.’ When they had done so, he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.”- Genesis 45:4-5 (NIV)
As Sharon Jaynes continues Chapter 3 of When You Don’t Like Your Story, she observes that hindsight provides 20-20 vision. At that point we see how God’s meanwhile worked to make a masterpiece out of our difficult chapters. For right now, God’s positioning people, places, and events to accomplish His purposes. Sharon explains:
“And right now, you can rest assured that God is working in the lives of people you’ve never met, in places you’ve perhaps never been, to accomplish his purposes in ways you never could have imagined. Your difficult story may seem like a setback, but it might just be a setup for God’s unfolding plan.”
Therefore, even if you never see your why, like Joseph in the Old Testament you may find yourself able to look back and see signs of God’s meanwhile at work. Because sometimes life events seem randomly placed. Like body parts in a Picasso work.
But even if this random sequence fails to make sense, we can trust God. For He knows our lives from beginning to end. Before the closing scene begins, He’s already scripted it. And, Sharon stresses, His pen never slips or falters.
Today’s question: What Bible verses dispel the feeling that God’s aloof in difficult times? Please share.
tomorrow’s blog: “Escalator to holiness – or stairway of struggle”
