The Hot Pursuit of God’s Goodness and Mercy

Photo by Hendrik Cornelissen on Unsplash

When life gets hard, it is rarely the circumstances themselves that derail us. Rather, it is our hidden misconceptions of God. False impressions of him create sneaky undercurrents of mistrust in our hearts, hampering our intimacy with him and our ability to face the circumstance with peaceful hearts. These misconceptions may be buried so deep that we need help to identify and correct them.

For me, one such misconception is that God is passive in the face of suffering. I see the anguish of this broken world in the news, in the lives of my loved ones, and in my own heart. From my vantage point, it seems like God is watching the prolonged pain and doing nothing about it. It seems like he is unengaged. But if we look into his Word there is much we can learn about the truth of his character.

RECOGNIZING THE RAMIFICATIONS

We were made for intimacy with God. Every time we are confronted with darkness, whether from within or without, we have the opportunity to run to the Lord. Pain and suffering—even sin—are invitations to draw near to him. He is the only source of forgiveness, healing, and true human flourishing. When we bring our broken hearts to him, we don’t come to an indifferent God. We come to Jesus, whose body was broken for us and for the world. That’s why the insidious lie that he is passive is so debilitating. It whispers in our ear that God might not notice or maybe he just doesn’t care. It corrupts our view of him, which impacts our stance toward him. We stay distant, often angry or fearful, deprived of the comfort and peace he died to bring. . .

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