Hey there, my friend, with your face getting hot behind your mask in the grocery store.
And you who is working harder than ever to keep up in a world that changed almost overnight.
You whose heart is hurting because of injustice you’ve faced in your own little corner of the world.
All of you who are dealing with broken hearts and loss of hope.
You were made for this moment.
No, really.
How do I know? As the popular children’s hymn says, “the Bible tells me so.”
“From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.‘ For in him we live and move and have our being.’” – Acts 17:26-28
God created each person, marked out their appointed times in history, and where they would live. Why? So they would reach out for Him.
What makes us stop and really look at our lives? In 2020, it’s been COVID-19, social unrest, and the ugliest election season any of us can remember.
Day after day, we shake our heads, often wondering, “What in the world is going on?”
I was surprised by all the turmoil, pain, and just plain strangeness of it all.
But God did not get caught off guard at all. He knew what we would face living in 2020.
If anyone out there is a fan of the sitcom “Community,” my hubby said that we found ourselves in “the darkest timeline.”
But people, there have been dark times before 2020, and there will be dark times again. God appointed us for this time in history so we would seek Him. If you follow Jesus, He calls you to share His Good News.
He came that we might have life and have it abundantly.
In beauty and nature, we often hear God whisper. In pain and difficulties, God is reaching for His megaphone.
“You don’t have to do this alone! Reach out to Me, and I will help you.”
He’s called you to this particular moment in history for a purpose. And that purpose is so your life can glorify Him and point others to do the same.
Acts of hope
I’ve been studying Acts this fall for a women’s Bible study, and I find myself reading it less as a collection of stories from the early church and more of how the church (and me as a member) should handle life and adversity.
One message kept coming up in my mind:
If God is in it, nothing can stop it.
The apostles faced beatings, riots, arrests, shipwrecks, and death. But God used all of it to advance His message of the saving grace found in Christ.
For example, the stoning death of Stephen in Acts 7 led to many Christians leaving Jerusalem and sharing the Good News all over the region and explosive growth of the early church. The imprisonment of Paul and Silas in Acts 16 resulted in the salvation of the jailer and all of his household. When Paul was in prison in Rome, he wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon.
As we continue to deal with life amidst a pandemic and all the social and political conflict around us, what should be our response?
Think about hope. What’s your source of hope right now? If it’s doctors or politicians, you’ll probably be disappointed. If you put your hope in God, who created everything and everyone, you’ll experience his grace, peace and love.
We can access God’s grace to persevere in this trying time. If we pray with grateful hearts, we experience his “peace that passes understanding” (Philippians 4:7). And God’s love is the greatest gift we can share with others.
If God is in it, nothing can stop it. Not viruses, not riots, not politicians or their policies.
He wants to do something in your life during this hard time.
In a crisis, God wants to do something big. What does He want to do?
He wants to empower His church to engage others with God’s love.
He wants us to reach out for Him and find Him because He is not far from any one of us.
For in Him we live and move and have our being.