There’s a song we’ve been singing in church called Way Maker. The whole song is great, but I’ve been especially grabbed by the bridge: Even if I don’t see that you’re working, you never stop, you never stop working. Its pretty powerful to hear the 600+ worshipers in our Nicaraguan church belt that out (in Spanish), often with tears in their eyes. Since the beginning of civil unrest April 19th over 500 people have been killed (according to human rights groups), many are missing (thousands according to some sources), the unemployment rate is enormous, most universities and colleges are closed, large protests occur regularly, and nearly 30,000 have fled the country for neighboring Costa Rica (where they have faced discrimination and other difficulties). The difficulty and instability is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in the United States, and its understandable that people would be experiencing lots of fear and anxiety. And yet, on Sunday morning, hundreds gather and passionately sing: even if I don’t see that you’re working, you never stop, you never stop moving.
I don’t know about you, but there have been times in my life that I couldn’t have truthfully sang that refrain. To be even more honest, pretty much all of those times the problems I was facing were nothing compared to those facing my Nicaraguan brothers and sisters. Yet, when I couldn’t see God working, I tended to get angry and frustrated. At one point or another the following thoughts have sneaked into my mind:
- God must be punishing me for something I’ve done
- God has abandoned me
- Is there really a God and, if there is, is He really good?
- I’ve done so much good for God, why can’t I have what I want this one time?
The Apostle Paul beautifully lays out an answer to these questions:
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:9-12
To put it more bluntly, Paul is telling us we simply can’t always know why things happen the way they do. As long as we live we will never see the world clearly, and will always constantly be asking why. But, here is one thing we can know: that God has, is, and always will be working for us:
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28.
As long as we live we will never know why things happen, or don’t happen, the way that they do. What we can know is that God masterfully created us, Jesus graciously saved us, and the Holy Spirit loving guides and supports us. God has, does, and will be working for us, not only now but for all eternity. He really never does stop working!
