My friend and mentor Mike Wells used to talk often about recognizing God in everything. He probably taught it so much because all of us needed the reminder constantly. When things happen in our lives that seem bad, it’s really hard to recognize God in them. We want to get an answer to why circumstances are the way they are, and usually we want to lash out at God for allowing the particular problem. Or we even to doubt His existence because we don’t see His hand in caring for us in the midst of the suffering.
My kids and I were watching The Neverending Story last night, and I was struck by a particular part where (and spoiler alert here, but, people, if you haven’t seen it in the 20+ years since it came out, I’m not that worried about spoilers!) the character Atreyu, who was chosen to save the world, is frustrated when the Empress tells him that the boy who is reading the book is actually the one who needs to help, and he’s been with them all along. And Atreyu cries out wondering why he had to go through all the things he did when the boy to help had been there all along! The Empress replies that the struggles he had been through were the only way to get through to a human, as the human boy had been involved the whole time but just needed to realize he was connected to the story.
It dawned on me that often the suffering we are in can’t be explained other than through deepening our relationship with Jesus and helping us to realize the connection we already have. The hard things aren’t punishments but keys to open the door to a greater recognition of God’s incredible love.
And it’s hard to see God in these hard things. Especially because we want Him to appear in a way that gets us out of them!
So, how do we recognize Him in everything? I think it starts by bringing your focus back to Him and off the negative mess that you find yourself in right now. Things look bad—I’ll give you that. But that doesn’t mean that God is going to leave you in bad. We get to refuse to define our lives by that mess, though, and move through to Him for definition.
For me, this means not allowing myself to sit and stew on what seems bad, but moving to God’s work in my life, and His love and faithful character. So, you might have lost your job, but that means God is bringing a new way for you to watch Him provide for you. Or you may be sick and frustrated at your lack of productivity because of your weakness, but He is allowing you time to rest and soak in Him. Or your marriage might be tumultuous and frustrating, but you are being freed from the opinions of man and moving into having all your needs met by a God who loves unconditionally as no human can. Or your life might look very different than you though with a loss of a dream, but God is bringing a new dream and a new purpose.
It’s a hard choice—to look for God in all the circumstances of life. But when you make that choice over and over throughout the day, you can see the road ahead with greater peace. Even if life seems quite foggy, you know who carries you and that He is faithful, true and loving.
What is it you get to recognize God in today?
But that’s not all! Even in times of trouble we have a joyful confidence, knowing that our pressures will develop in us patient endurance. And patient endurance will refine our character, and proven character leads us back to hope. And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us! Romans 5:3-5 (The Passion Translation)