I was walking recently on an absolutely beautiful day. The sun was shining. The sky was a wonderful shade of bright blue. Everything I looked at was colorful and blooming. At one point I noticed this tiny little cloud. It seemed lost on that particular day but maybe it just showed up to deliver a message to me.
That absolutely beautiful day also happened to be unseasonably cold for early May. I couldn’t help but think about how sometimes clouds actually help keep the temperature warmer. Clouds are strange in that they can both warm the temperature and cool it down, depending on the situation. Sometimes the cloud cover is what keeps it warmer. Sometimes the absence of clouds is allowing for a cooler temperature. Isn’t that fascinating?
I dare say it’s not what most of us expect. I wanted that bright sunshine and blue sky but I might have traded a little of either for some warmth that day. The thought of clouds helping to keep a warmer temperature is counterintuitive to me. I got to thinking about how God often works in ways that seem counterintuitive to my way of thinking.
I think about example after example in the Bible of people who were technically not qualified to do what God asked them to do. How many of us have felt like God must be crazy for asking us to do a particular thing? Me? Are you sure, God? Abraham and Sarah are going to have baby? You want David to fight Goliath? Ruth should go work in a field to get a man’s attention? You want a virgin to have a baby? None of that makes sense from a human perspective.
I think about the expression, “you can’t out give God.” I have experienced this many times. I don’t just mean money, though I have found that to be true as well. I’ve given financially only to watch it come back in ways I can’t fully explain. The more we give the more we seem to get. Time is what most astounds me. When you freely give God your time, He blesses that, too. It’s not that we get more hours in the day but that we have enough to do what needs to be done. It doesn’t make sense.
We read scriptures like Matthew 20:16 (this is at the end of the parable of the workers in the vineyard), “So the last will be first, and the first will be last. For many are called, but few are chosen.” I mean, what kind of sense does that make? Concepts such as loving your enemy and turning the other cheek run a little different to our human way of thinking.
I could spend a lot of time going down rabbit holes of things I don’t understand about God or scripture, what doesn’t make sense and what runs counterintuitive to my natural thinking. However, I keep coming back to a couple of points that I believe He has put on my heart for this very time. I don’t know why God is allowing us to suffer through a pandemic and its consequences. It wouldn’t really matter or fix anything if I did. What I do know is that God can definitely use it for His glory. And that’s good news.
God has a long track record for turning our suffering into something that glorifies Him and blesses us more than we could imagine. I could list personal examples all day long of how some of the greatest blessings of my life have been born out of something that looked bad on the surface. What looked tragic to my human eyes was only a catalyst to amazing blessings. What seemed like an insurmountable task, was completed with the strength God promised in Philippians 4:13.
I can’t help but look for the good out of the bad. I don’t know if that’s a coping mechanism, a process of healing or just simply who I am. There are certainly days when I need to wallow a little or sometimes a lot, but I spend a great deal of time deliberately looking for the good inside the bad. For me, this is a choice not a natural reaction. Though, with most things, it gets more natural with practice.
I’ve taught multiple Sunday School lessons on Romans 5:3-4 which says (KJV), “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” This sticks in my head, and I reference it frequently. I find it hard to “glory” in a pandemic, but I have learned to look beyond just suffering.
It occurred to me the other day that this might be the closest we will ever get to stopping time. What I mean is that I’m spending nearly every minute with my husband (who is working from home) and kids. In normal life, we would be lucky to see each other for just a few waking hours a day. There’s suffering involved when we can’t work and live as normal, but this is absolutely producing perseverance, character and hope in our house. It doesn’t make human sense but we’re receiving the blessing of time. In the end, that’s the only thing we can’t get more of.
God will use this for His glory, and that works out well for those who trust in Him. It may not make sense right away, but we can have faith while we build our hope. This leads me to the other scripture that I cannot get out of my head – Philippians 4:6-7. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
I cannot stop thinking about the peace that passes understanding. What an amazing gift that makes no earthly sense. Friends, I believe that means we’re just supposed to be thankful and keep praying. We’re not going to understand all the whys and hows. God’s ways are seldom going to make sense to us, and they don’t have to. We just have to keep trusting Him.
