Psalm 27:13 “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”
When the going gets tough, what do you do? I feel so blessed by the fact that my first four months were marked by joy, fulfillment, encouragement, laughter, hope, and easy friendships and relationships! But what do you do when you start to see into people’s lives, see the intense difficulty and hardship that they face, and you can’t do anything to help? This has been my question in my fifth month here.
Supporting people in grief is hard enough in your own culture, but what do you do when your language teacher’s daughter has had a tough pregnancy and her baby doesn’t make it? Or when one teacher loses a close friend and her mother in the same week? Or when another teacher is concerned about the wellbeing of her 2 year old grandchild, and you see signs of abuse and neglect in the things she tells you. Do you even know the word abuse in this new language? Does this language have a word for abuse, or is that just life here—the normal? What do you do when you're overwhelmed by the brokeness and hurt in this world and feel powerless to help or even offer words of basic comfort?
Language learning is going well, and one of the direct effects is I can now hear people’s pain and understand their suffering. The upside of that is that I have so much to be praying for.
I know this blog has begun in a very heavy and somber manner. But in this past month, as I’ve seen such need for prayer and seen so many situations needing provincial breakthrough, I am only reminded that the Lord has it all in His hands and that He cares about it all.
If you will, here's a thought experiment for you: Imagine you believe God is good, He is bigger than everything bad this world can throw at us, and that He cares about each individual’s suffering. Which I do. If we never saw suffering, if we never saw awful situations, if we never experienced our hearts breaking for someone else, how big could this God possibly be? If He only permits minor iconveniences, it must mean He's only big enough to overcome the little things.
Now I think we can all agree that the world is a mess in a lot of ways. And it's in this mess, in the awful, in the suffering, I am reminded that my Lord is God of all. That He cares. That He sees, that He wants to comfort and bring restoration. When the going gets tough I have to turn my eyes to Him. And honestly, I frequently need to be reminded. If you too need to be reminded, take a breath and rest in His goodness:
Isaiah 43:13
“Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”
Matthew 19:26
And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Job 42:1-2
Then Job answered the Lord and said, “I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.
Job 11:7-11 – “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea. If he comes along and confines you in prison and convenes a court, who can oppose him? Surely he recognizes deceivers; and when he sees evil, does he not take note?”
John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
Remember you are in His faithful, loving, caring, compassionate, and all powerful hands,
Evelyn