Making Sense Out of Seeming Senselessness

Our world can be amazing and awesome. At other times, however, it can be confusing, confounding, sometimes inconceivable. Watching the evening news, reading a newspaper (online or the old-fashioned paper variety), or following social media for more than a few minutes can have us scratching our heads. Every day society seems to be creating a new form of crazy.

 

But it’s not just the violence, natural disasters, global conflict and political chicanery. It’s the befuddling stuff that goes on in our own lives. An excited young couple has their hopes dashed when the baby they’ve been preparing for is stillborn. A young man who has eagerly responded to a call from God to become a preacher falls from a cliff, leaving him a paraplegic. After years of working with diligence and excellence, a man is laid off from his job, a victim of ‘downsizing.’ A young woman’s fiancé is killed while deployed in the Middle East only weeks before their wedding date.

 

The list could go on. We’ve all experienced times when life just doesn’t make sense. Maybe you’re going through such a time right now. We can read Bible promises like Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” But in the midst of a great hardship or devastating heartbreak, those words might seem empty. “How is God going to work good out of this?!” we might wonder or even ask aloud.

 

Recently I was reminded of a wonderful song, "Trust His Heart," first recorded by Babbie Mason in 2001. Its message resonates as strongly as it did then. A recurring refrain in the song states, “So when you don’t understand, when you don’t see His plan, when you can’t trace His hand, trust His heart.” 

 

In everyone’s life there are times we don’t understand, when we don’t see God’s plan in what’s happening, and when we can ‘t trace His hand – almost like He’s absent or indifferent. However, if we trust in the Scriptures and the assurances the Lord gives us through them, we know He hasn’t fallen asleep, gone on vacation or abandoned us.

 

Even in the midst of the most severe trial, we can cling to His promises, such as ones He gave through the prophet Jeremiah. For instance, in Jeremiah 29:11 He says, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” The outworking of this promise immediately follows: “Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”

 

For many of us the senseless, unthinkable assassination of Charlie Kirk remains on our minds. We might wonder how such a thing could have happened – how God could have allowed it to happen. This tragic act ranks high among the things that don’t make sense.

 

The final chapter of Kirk’s life, however, has yet to be written even though he’s no longer living among us. His non-profit, Turning Point USA, remains very active and possibly more visible than ever. In some respects, it may be more vibrant now than when he was touring college campuses, holding forums, and debating some of the most pressing social issues of the day.

 

Sometimes for a movement of God to gain momentum, the death of a prominent leader is necessary. Jesus being crucified on the cross is the ultimate example. As He Himself said, predicting His own death, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24).

 

I’ve heard and read reports of numerous college campuses where evangelistic outreach meetings have attracted thousands of students, with many of them professing faith in Christ and even being baptized. I believe this is part of a much greater plan of God, with Kirk’s mission and vision being a small piece of what He’s doing across our nation and around the world.

 

We could cite countless other examples of how God has transformed seeming tragedy and great hardship into marvelous trophies of His love, grace and mercy. Hearing about those can encourage us as we go through our own trials and tribulations. 

It helps to remember what God has said about our incapacity to comprehend what He’s up to: “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts'” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Trusting God’s heart, even when we don’t understand, can’t see His plan or trace His hand, will go a long way in enabling us to cling to hope in Him even when all seems hopeless. 

GODISNOWHERE: What Do You See?

Have you ever seen any of those optical illusion illustrations that show two very different images, depending on how you look at them? There’s the one that, from one angle, looks like an attractive young lady in a feathered, flowing hat. From another angle, however, it appears to be an aged woman.

There’s another that at first glance looks like a chalice or goblet, but after a second look appears to be two people facing each other, their noses nearly touching.

 

Yet another, in color, at first appears to be an old woman and an old man looking at each other, but another look shows a man with a guitar, wearing a sombrero and serenading a lady nearby. You can find many more of these visual illusions. The brain can perceive things in amazingly different ways.

 

The title of this post is a similar illusion, only in verbal form. When reading the first word in the title, what did you see? Did it seem to say, “God Is Nowhere”? Or did you read, “God Is Now Here”? 

How you respond is interesting, because in this little visual exercise we see a metaphor for much of what’s going on in our world today. Indeed, for many people, God is nowhere. Atheists and agnostics claim to see no evidence of Him. Or at least they deny it. But one doesn’t need to be an ardent non-believer to puzzle over the existence of God. Whether it’s a global health crisis, or seemingly insurmountable personal challenges, there are times when we want to cry out, “God, where are you?” 

 

I’ve learned people generally see only what they’re looking for. If you’re not looking for shirts in a department store, for example, you probably won’t see any. If you’re not looking for a Tesla on the highway, you likely won’t see one of those either. (I have a grandson, however, who spots them all the time.) But just because you don’t see something, that doesn’t mean it’s not there.

 

Many people, if they’re willing, need only to look within to recognize God’s presence. Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He has also set eternity in their hearts,” so by the Lord’s design, we all have an inner awareness of His existence.

 

We also find evidence everywhere of God through the world and universe that He has created. As Romans 1:19-20 says about those who choose to rebel against Him, “since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

 

And yet, even for those with the deepest faith, there are moments when God seems to be nowhere. What are we to do then? How can we, despite challenges that threaten to overwhelm us, continue to embrace the assurance that God is now here?

 

Thinking about this, a song by Babbie Mason comes to mind. It contains the refrain, “When you don’t understand, when you don’t see His plan, when you can’t trace His hand…trust His heart.” Often I’ve wondered, “Lord, what’s going on? What are You doing?” He might not have given an immediate answer – often, He doesn’t – but in retrospect I realized God truly did know what He was doing. His plan, as it unfolded, was far better than anything I could have come up with.

 

What we can see, at any moment, is what the Lord has revealed about Himself through His Word. In response to the claim that God is nowhere, we find the psalmist’s declaration that says, ”Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast” (Psalm 139:7-10).

 

Many people I know, during their darkest times, have clung to the promise of Isaiah 41:10, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

 

We can find similar assurances throughout both the Old and New testaments, affirmations of the Lord’s omnipresence, no matter what. In fact, the very last recorded words of Jesus Christ, spoken just before His ascension to heaven, were, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). When God says “always,” I’ve learned He means ALWAYS.

 

We need to remember this, so that when circumstances scream out to us, “God is nowhere!” we can hold firm to the ubiquitous promise of the Scriptures that “God is now here!”