Where is God When Everything is Falling…
Most people would finish that statement with: “…apart.” We often turn to God and question where He is in the midst of chaos, stress, fear and uncertainty. In fact, so often, one of the only points in an individual’s life where they will actually turn to a god or higher being, regardless of faith tradition, seems to be when the world around them is crumbling.
I’ll admit, even as a Christ-follower I will be very quick to ask God where He is when things don’t seem to be going my way. Recently I have been convicted of the idea that we (Christians) often ask God where he is only when we are failing, flailing and falling.
A New Question
So I want to ask you a new question, a question to challenge you: “Where is God when everything is falling into place?”
If you are an individual who says that you have put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, I want to challenge you for a minute. This post is different than my typical post, but I think it extremely important. When things are going right in our lives, it would be logical to assume that God has his hands in our successes. It would seem that he is showering his blessings on us. Yet, we rarely take the time to count those blessings when our world is thriving.
Why? Because we are selfish and prideful people. It really is that simple.
If life is going our way, we think we are doing a good job. We pat our own backs and sing our own praises because everything that we are doing amounts to our success. Sound familiar? God seems to disappear when we are doing well because so many Christians today are in the habit of running to God only when we are in crisis-mode. Sadly, we’ve put God into this box. We can call on him when we need him, but forget he is there when we may not be in dyer need His help.
Getting us to Look: Trials and Blessings
This summer, I led a study in the book of James. We talked about trials and tribulations and how God uses those to grow us in and catch our attention. The question I have been plagued with recently is this: Why do we have to hit rock bottom to realize that we are incapable of controlling our own lives?
God uses trials to grow us, not to punish or hurt us (James 1:3). Sometimes he is just jealous for our attention and the only way he can get us to stop focussing on ourselves is to throw a monkey-wrench into our life plan.
I’ll confess, this post is more for more than for anyone else. What I have come to realize is that God is much more in the business of getting our attention by showering us with blessings (James 1:17) than by putting us through tough circumstances that force us to turn our heads towards him.
When Everything is Going Right…
When things are going right in your life, stop praising yourself. Stop patting your own back. Stop bragging about your accomplishments and exalting your own achievements. Instead we need to boast in the Lord our God and the great things he has done and the countless ways he has blessed us (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
God is at the center of everything. He is there when we are are at our highest points and in our lowest valleys. Instead of waiting to beg God for mercy when things seem to be difficult, I challenge you to praise God every time things are going right and you find yourself showered with successes. It is in those moments God is calling out to us saying, “Hey friend, I love you more than you know and I am willing to do anything for you! After all, I gave my one and only Son for you so we could spend the rest of eternity together. But until that day comes when we meet face-to-face, I want to shower you with blessing because you are my child and I love you so much.”
So, let’s start changing where we look for God and ask this new question: Where is God when everything is falling into place?