Most of the leaves have fallen. When three-year-old Henry was over the other day, he wanted to sweep the beautiful red, yellow, and brown leaves off the drive. Which he did with a long-handled brush designed to wash cars, but perfect for his size. At the young age of three he is already keenly aware of the changing seasons, but not yet so much of the changing seasons of life.
Mark Twain famously said, “The only one who likes change is a baby!” And true, we all grow to like the familiar and find comfort in what has been or is, making us a bit resistive to some kinds of change. Then again, if we are working for positive changes in our family or in our community or our church or our world, we get frustrated when things seem slow to move toward a better time – a time of more justice, a day of more peace, a season when answer arrive. What does our faith say about both these sides of change? Quite simply, it calls us to trust. To trust God’s timing, trust God’s seasons for grace, for right, for reconciliation, for justice, for release, for peace. I love what King David says in Psalm 31: All my times and seasons are in Your hands.
What was he saying? You can trust God’s goodness, God’s mercy, God’s justice, and God’s purposes. They are always at work, moving everything toward good and great divine goals, ones that are gracious and just. Trust God. For everything. Do what you can. Add your witness, your effort, your work, your prayers. But don’t try to push the river. Trust God’s good hand, even though hidden, to be moving things forward in just the right way and right season and right time. Then you can enjoy peace yourself, knowing that the Almighty is absolutely working things for the good of all God’s children.
You say, “Hey, Frank, I don’t see it!” You don’t see anything happening, any new and better times coming, any big steps forward toward reconciliation, justice, wholeness, forgiveness, answers, or a turn-around. But just because you can’t see progress, doesn’t mean nothing’s happening. The Scripture says, Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 The Gospel of John starts out by reminding us “No one has ever seen God,” but then goes on to declare that in the coming of the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, we do see God’s long awaited promise come true in an astonishing way, and when the world least expected it. It had been 500 years since the last prophet prophesied the coming of a savior. Most people grew weary waiting. Not seeing anything develop most gave up believing God was doing anything really to move that promise forward.
But the truth is, if you believe the story of salvation throughout history as recorded in Scripture, God has never been early and God has never been late. As some contemporary preachers declare boldly: God is always right on time! God’s grace is always right on time. God’s help, right on time. God’s fulfillment of a dream, on time. God’s answer to prayer, on time. God’s promises fulfilled, always right on time. See, you and I look at life and the world around us with human eyes. Our vision is limited. We’re just humans. But God sees everything, from a much higher, divine vista. Once, I was lost hiking in a forest. I had the best time climbing up hills, down across valleys, and all through the thick woods. But after three hours, I began to realize, I have no clue how to get back to my car! Starting to get nervous as the sun was heading down toward the horizon and evening about to fall, I came upon an old beat up wooden sign shaped like an arrow, pointing straight up a high hill. It read: “Vista”. I pressed upward to the top, turned around, and from that high point could see the whole forest enough to get my bearings, and find my way back. Well, think of the vista the Lord has. God sees the whole picture, the state of the whole world and all its peoples, the big picture of your life and everyone in it, and all the broken pieces of the human puzzle. St. Paul wrote, God works all things together for the good of those who love God, according to his purposes. Romans 8:28 The key words seems to be “all” and “together”. God’s hidden hand is always at work, moving the pieces together at just the right time and way. Trust God’s hand, God’s activity, God’s promises, God’s plans.
There was a time people said the Berlin wall would never come down. But in 1989 a group of Christians in Liebzig began praying. It became a movement all through the land. And suddenly, in 1990, the year I traveled to Germany wanting to enter East Germany and see Luther sites, that wall and the whole giant fence dividing a nation just tumbled down. Late that year I was at Holden Village listening to a speaker from South Africa tell us with all confidence that not even our grandchildren would see the end of apartheid and its racist structures. But just a couple years later, a prison door opened and a man named Mandela walked out into the sun, and apartheid crumbled. How do you explain such things? My answer? It’s all about God’s invisible freedom-working finger, moving things in a broken world, at just the right pace, blessing the work of those faithfully doing what they could and steadfastly praying, and then in the right season and at the right time, it all comes together for good.
So what are you worried about? What dreams and desires has God planted deep in your heart? What righteous hopes are you praying on? Is it for a wrong to be righted, a child of yours to turn around, a spark of faith to ignite in a loved one your praying for, a day healing and wholeness, a positive change in your family, a day of deliverance for those oppressed by poverty, mental illness, or addictions? Whatever, don’t lose heart, or imagine nothing is happening just because you can’t see it. Trust God. Keep on. Wait with hope. And know God is good and is working even now in your behalf. Do you need a banner passage to take with you into the future as you wait? Try this one:
Every child of God is able to defeat this world….and this is how we win the victory over the world – by our faith! 1 John 5:4
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