Do you ever wonder what God is doing? Like right now. What is He doing?

If I base my answer on some of the things I see around me, I may conclude He’s not doing much at all. The world is in a mess, right? Wars. Poverty. Division. Hatred. Disease. Human trafficking. Violence. Greed. Deception. Corruption. The list could go on.

If you don’t believe in God, but you do believe in mankind’s ability to fix things, well, good luck with that. It looks like we’re only making things worse. And at an accelerated pace.

If you do believe in God, then you and I have a problem on our hands. How do we explain the mess? If God is all-powerful then at the very least, He has allowed all of this to happen. At worst, He has caused it. And if that’s the case, then it would seem to call into question His goodness. And if He’s not good, then can I suggest we’re all in big trouble?

So what is going on? If God exists, and I believe He does, what’s He doing?

In my last post, I suggested that He does things gradually before doing things suddenly. We all, including me, want the big breakthrough moments, but most of the time the breakthroughs only follow the go-throughs, lengthy seasons of persevering through trials and difficulties. Why the go-throughs though? Why does God work so slowly? So subtly? So mysteriously?

First, I think it would help to ask: “What does God want?” I don’t believe He has any needs. He’s infinite and eternal and entirely self-sufficient. He doesn’t need me. Or you. Or anything. But I do believe He has wants. And one of the things He wants is relationship. With you and me. And that relationship begins by dealing with the barrier between Him and us. It’s called, sin. We were born with a nature, with a bent, that is intent on going our own way and doing our own thing. Not God’s way. Not God’s thing. It’s like hearing God’s offer of love and relationship through Jesus and saying, “No thanks, I’ve got this. I’m going to do what I want.”

And because He’s genuinely interested in a true relationship, He chooses to not override our choice. He calls and invites, but doesn’t make the choice for us. Each of us gets to exercise our free will. And that, by the way, the exercise of free will, is what has gotten us into the mess the world is in. We misused the gift of free will to go our own way, rather than choosing to begin a relationship with God through the forgiveness of sin Christ offers.

At this point, you might think God’s way isn’t a very good way. That if He’s so good, then He would have seen the mess coming and done something about it. I get it. But I also get that God stepping in every single time someone is about to do the wrong thing negates free will, which negates love, which negates relationship. And if we’re honest, none of us want to be micro-managed by God or have our free-will overridden.

But someone might say, “But I’m not doing anything terrible. He should just stop the really bad things from happening.”

Jesus actually had something to say about that when He said, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” And, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”

What if judging someone because they didn’t vote like you or feel the same as you about wearing masks or condemning someone for not believing in the same causes that you feel strongly about is just as bad as “the really bad things”? Something for all of us to consider. Me included.

I’m reminded of something J. Vernon McGee once said: “This is God’s universe and He does things His way. You may have a better way, but you don’t have a universe.”

So back to the original question: What is God doing?

I believe, He’s pursuing a relationship with us. He desires intimacy with us. And in the process of us seeking Him and getting to know Him, He’s slowly making us more like Jesus. We’re becoming people who love and forgive and serve, rather than people who judge and condemn and hate and do all the other terrible things we see around us.

Why doesn’t He just zap us into the people He wants us to be? Again, because it’s a relationship. And that’s not how relationships work. They’re mostly gradual and rarely sudden.

I’ve been on this journey for almost forty years. And I have a LONG way to go. The last six years for me have felt gradual. Very gradual. And the last year has felt even more gradual and it’s been a very intense season of the Lord peeling back some of the layers of my heart and showing me just how much work needs to be done. It’s been hard…but good.

If you’d like to begin or go deeper in your journey with the Lord, CLICK HERE to check out this devotional that contains the powerful truths we learned during my wife, Robyn’s, treatment for leukemia.

To be continued…