I’ve heard a lot of reasons why people don’t believe in God. Some like to use the conclusion that God doesn’t exist because there is too much suffering in the world. Too many children starving, too many natural disasters, too many wars and not enough peace. And I would agree that there is too much of all of that and not enough love. What I won’t agree with, however, is that God does not exist because of all of those. In fact, I believe the opposite. I believe those circumstances point us to a God that is in ever aspect alive, because in the midst of all of that suffering, there is triumph.
Triumph in the woman who is invited into a neighbors home after hers is demolished by a hurricane. Triumph in the child who is handed an apple from a stranger because he is hungry. Triumph in the father who beat the odds and became a doctor even though he wasn’t the smartest in his class. Triumph for the teenager that learns to pave a new path for himself after a broken childhood. There is love and joy, victory and success. There are moments that we see His redemptive spirit, His loving Fatherly attributes, His deep compassion. He sits and wonders too why there is so much suffering. The difference is compared to us, He has the ability to see the outcome, the beauty, the win before it is even close to happening.
The wonderful thing I realized is that sometimes, when we’re not even looking for it, He allows us to see glimpses too.
Tonight I heard a song Victory Church wrote with powerful lyrics that explain who God is. Here’s a taste of that:
A strong tower meant to save us
And now nothing will defeat us
We are holy interceding
For our children lost and bleeding
We’ll see slavery bound to freedom
And the sick restored to healing
So we fight for those who are mourning
And take back what’s been stolen
For my family shamed and broken
Oh their eyes have been opened.
We’ll see joy defeat depression
Liberation from addiction
For when we are at our weakest
Your power is completed.
Singing that song and reminiscing about what I’ve seen in the world, this becomes truth. Children being abandoned now part of a family that loves and adores them. God healing in the sense that people are getting the medication they need continually. Innocence being renewed now that a kid can be a kid rather than parent to a younger sibling. Eyes opened to a love so abounding it’s like a hug from heaven. People now having the ability to dream more than they ever could, past the circumstances they once lived in that bound them to that life. A girl wanting to be a psychologist so she can help those in the same situations she once suffered through.
That’s the beauty of my God.
With arms outstretched wide Jesus brought Him to us just as if He was reaching out His arms for us to come running for the best hug we’ll ever get.
It’s easy to see the suffering in the world. The things no one wants to talk about, the photos that make us want to cry because we can’t imagine what it’s like to suffer that bad. In no way does this mean that doesn’t matter. Stings are painful, broken hearts are devastating. This only means that it is no excuse to not believe in a God that has the power to redeem, to bind the broken hearts and to bring joy in the midst of trial. Instead it should bring us to Him. He does it every day, and when we wake up tomorrow, He’ll be doing it again.
Perspective is everything. Just like all else in life, we can choose to see the bad or the good. We can choose to see things as a reason to not believe, or we can use them as leverage to increase our reasons why we do.
