"God Knows What He's Doing"

by Brandon Terry

“In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.” Ecclesiastes 7:14

These certainly are unprecedented times. Unprecedented… a word that has been used more in the past month than perhaps the last 100 years. But really, there is no other word that comes to mind that can explain our current situation quite as well. Our normal structure of life has been put on hold, and who knows if it will ever actually return to what it was pre-pandemic. Millions of people are out of work. Students are not in school and parents are left to facilitate their kids learning in their kitchens or living rooms. Not to mention, people are being prohibited from visiting loved ones in the hospital. We are just stuck waiting for the next update to come out telling us what we can and cannot do. Waiting on an update to see whether the COVID-19 curve has been flattened. Our way of life, as we knew it in early March, may be no more.

Through all of this we may be inclined to ask questions such as– God why is this happening? What are you doing?

And if you find yourself questioning, you are surely not the first and will not be the last. You are actually in pretty good company. David, a man after God’s own heart, in Psalm 22 asks, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?” Jesus, while hanging on the cross, quotes the same verse from Psalm 22. The first part of this psalm shows how David felt abandoned by God and he cries out to God for help. So, this begs the question, if Jesus quotes that part, did he also feel abandoned by God while on the cross? But as you read on in Psalm 22, the mood shifts, and we read of David’s confident assurance that God will come to his aid and he praises God for his care. I think that is why Jesus quotes the first part of the psalm, not because he felt abandoned by God, but because he knew, just as David did, that God would come to his aid. Even while things looked bleakest for David and Jesus, they maintained hope in the promise that God would never leave them or forsake them.

“Why worry? God knows what He is doing. His work isn’t going to suffer."

As followers of Christ, we will have times where we question. We will have times we doubt. We will have times in which we do not understand why things are happening the way that they are happening. But that is part of living in a fallen world. Things here are not the way they were intended to be. Throughout the Bible, we read of disease, famine, wars, and so on, that befell the people of God. But repeatedly in scripture we read of God’s faithfulness throughout those situations.

Even in our recent history, just 100 years ago, the Spanish Flu of 1918 caused a great

Francis J Grimke

deal of destruction. Millions of people died. Hundreds of millions were infected. During this time, churches, schools, and businesses were all shut down, as they are now. One preacher during that time, Francis J Grimke of 15th Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. said “Why worry? God knows what He is doing. His work isn’t going to suffer. It will rather be a help to it in the end. Out of it, I believe, great good is coming. All the churches, as well as the community at large, are going to be the stronger and better for this season of distress through which we have been passing.” This quote points back to Psalm 22. Even amidst great suffering, when things were very bleak, there was hope that good was coming.

Our current situation is not much different than it was in 1918, except in the way of medical and technological advances. We are all on lock-down, some of us are itching to get back to work, church, going out to eat, going to ball games and for the kids to get back to school. To resume what our life was just a short time ago. However, with the current landscape of our lives changing almost daily and while things may look bleak, we as believers have a hope that is not of this world. We have a God who will be with us through it all to the end. May we, as His children, look to Him and trust Him at His word. May we have the same confidence of David and the same assurance as Francis Grimke to see the good that will come and to live accordingly.

Philippians 4:6-7 tells us “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

I pray that for all of us, that we can turn our hearts and our minds to Christ through these unprecedented times and rest in Him.