It's been many months past, when Bay and I sat in a church service listening to a young couple, fresh from the mission field, reporting to their supporting church...
They'd returned to the US to raise more finances for their ministry, where they served the Lord in a difficult war-torn country.
They described the scenario: rapid successions of bombings, constant listening for air raid sirens, or approaching enemy planes overhead.
They discussed the fear that came when woken in the middle of the night, out of a sound sleep, having to rush to bomb shelters, awakening their young children (who didn't understand what was going on in their world).
They, regularly, assisted friends, who were evacuating, knowing that there was no assurance of a place prepared for their arrival on the other end.
They despaired for the great lack of supplies (simple things: bandages, disinfectant, antibacterial creams, analgesics); the inability to find food or fresh water (as stores were emptying and roads were blocked preventing trucks getting through with assistance).
They talked of trips taken across dangerous roads, as they attempted to retrieve supplies from the border to bring back into their city.
They shared of friends who'd fled the land, who hadn't had a word from family left behind in months (wondering were they even still alive)...
Their stories were fresh and raw; honest and vulnerable.
Their pictures were heart-wrenching and difficult to see.
I heard them say that their faith still rested in God.
Yet, I heard what they weren't saying, as well.
Doubt crept in unwanted.
Despair snuck past the borders of their own hearts and set up camp.
Envy at the good lives of Americans, and our inability to relate to the pain experienced in that part of the world.
I heard them asking, without verbalizing them, the "why" questions.
All of that, perfectly normal amidst the trials and tragedies of war. They were overwhelmed.
But above it all....the greatest unspoken cry of their hearts was this: Is God really good?
In fact, the one thing I missed in their whole presentation, which was well-presented, were the God-stories.
Where, in all this suffering, did they see God at work?
How had they looked for, and found, His presence?
What specific "Word from His Word" captured their hearts and the meditations of their minds; and, how was this LIFE-GIVING Word sustaining them? And, the church of God/the bride of Christ? How was she faring?
When I walked away, I felt...empty...and left, wanting.
I wanted to hear something of the Goodness of God in the Land of the Living.
Yet, the more I pondered their sharing, it seemed like God's Presence underlined every story they told; but, they seemed totally unaware.
It seemed what they needed was a tour guide pointing Him out in the midst of the suffering that seemed to eclipse His glory and goodness.
XXXXX
Easter just passed.
The empty tomb is still empty.
The reality of the resurrection reminds us God put an exclamation mark on sin, death, suffering, and the life to come.
In fact, the empty tomb proclaims loudly that the Lord guarantees every one of His promises!
After orchestrating His own resurrection is anything too hard for the Lord?
We don't have to live as if the here and now is all there is... God offers glimpses of a there and then just waiting around the corner...
Jesus is LIVING PROOF, that He takes care of and makes right all suffering, and one day will stomp victoriously over it....that what the world means for evil, He promises to redeem.
He is LIVING PROOF that His presence will never leave us.
He is LIVING PROOF that even amidst our suffering, His goodness will, tangibly, alway be very real, if we but look for it.
While the enemy may want to eclipse God's good heart, keep your eyes and ears open for Him...
We've all heard the quote, popular, now, for a number of years:
"It's Friday;
But
Sunday's Comin'."
-E.M. Lockridge-
This is the truth you can bank on...and what the young missionary couple needed to preach often to themselves:
Today, we may be living in the longest Friday of our lives, but there's a Sunday to come when the glorious, risen Lord will make all things new!
In the meantime, look for His fingerprints all around you, in everything that you're experiencing.
He's there.
It may just be behind the scenes (exactly what I learned from the book of Esther)...
...and, if you need one, hire a tour guide to walk you through your story; someone who sees a little more clearly, and who will point Him out.
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