Day 109: He's Right There

Acts 16:16-40; Judges 4-5; Job 35

This story of Paul and Silas is so cool!  First, I wonder if Paul was supposed to hollar at the spirit in the girl.  He did it out of frustration, which may or may not have been a good idea, but there's a catch.  Look at the result of their struggles:  another family came to faith in Christ.  Had Paul and Silas not been beaten and thrown in jail, that jailer would not have known The Lord.  Perhaps even the other prisoners there put their faith in God (there is no record of such things, but that doesn't mean that it didn't happen).  All of that for one family?  Couldn't they have just visited with them in the marketplace, without all the beating and jail time? I think what it comes down to is that it is in our struggles, hurts, difficulties that we can most effectively demonstrate God's hope and his grace.  I bet this jailer had never guarded men who sang beautiful praises to The Lord all night long.  I bet he had never heard of prisoners not escaping the first chance they got.  And he probably wouldn't have believed that his prisoners, ones he may have even whipped himself, would stop him from killing himself.  If I was the jailer, I would have thought, "who are these guys?" and "I want what they have." Which is exactly what he got.

God is so gracious to his people.  For as long as the Israelites were being ruled by a foreign nation, God rescued them and let them live in peace for two or three times as long.  God didn't enjoy having them suffer, but their actions had consequences. The Lord, who is merciful, wanted (and wants) to bless his people more than he wants to see them struggle.

Whoa, who would have thought that the things in scripture are relevant today? (Sarcasm, by the way.)  In Job 35, Elihu says that people, "In times of trouble, everyone begs the might God to have mercy. But after their Creator helps them through hard time, they forget about him."  I can't help but think of the cry of people during tragedies:  "where was God?!"  Where was God during Hurricane Sandy last October when thousands of people lost their houses?  Where was God when 26 teachers and children lost their lives in the shooting?  Where was God when a young person decided to do drugs, beat someone up, take their own life?  Christians, but especially, or even more so, those that are not Christians, love to ask "where was God?" in those difficult times.  But then, when stuff is good and we are successful, it doesn't matter where God is because no one needs him.  I know that I don't want a faith that only cries out to God when I'm facing difficult circumstances.  I don't want to just blame him for his absence when I "need him most." I want a faith that through the storms, when I'm drowning in life's mess, or when I'm successful and at peace, I give him praise.  I want to trust in The Lord no matter what and worship him no matter what. So maybe the next time you hear someone ask after some tragedy "where was God?" you can say, "same place he has always been."  He is right there.