O God, Who is like You?
“You who have shown me many troubles and distresses will revive me again and will bring me up from the depths of the earth.” Psalm 71:20
O God, Who is like You?
Shown – “But where is God in all this mess?” Have you heard yourself utter that question? You are struck down with calamity. You experience disaster. Things look pretty awful. Suddenly the question that you never thought you would ask is on your lips. “God, where are You?”
Look again at this verse and you will see that God is in the trouble and distress. We often think that the circumstances of our lives are situations that come to us from fate or accident or evil forces. Not so, says the Psalmist. God displays Himself to me in the midst of my disasters. They are not circumstances beyond Him. I make a mistake when I think that these trials and stresses are there only so I can plead with God to remove them. I have missed something vital. God is working His purposes in my life through the very things that cause the most stress and strain. Why? Because there is no gain without pain. If God needs to reshape me (and He does), then I will have to go through the purifier’s fire. And it won’t be comfortable. But it will be glorious! Not my glory, but His glory! That is the purpose of being conformed to the image of His Son. To glorify Him. That’s it. There is nothing more important in all of life than glorifying God. And what better way is there to glorify Him (and not me) if I can praise and worship Him in the middle of my disasters.
God shows me troubles. The word is ra’ah. It covers a wide range of “seeing”. In this case, it means to see with insight, to consider with reflection. Contemplate your troubles. See that God is giving you the opportunity to glorify Him when it really counts. Oh, it’s nice to go to church and sing the praise songs sitting on a comfortable pew surrounded by supporting friends in and air-conditioned sanctuary. But how much more glorifying to God is it to sing those praise songs from a dungeon in the dark? How much more glorifying to praise Him while nails are driven into your hands? How much more glorifying to worship Him when the stones are flying?
Where is God in your personal stress? He is as far away as the next word of praise. It’s about His glory. Thank God that He considers you worthy enough to suffer for His glory. How terrible life would be if God could never trust you to glorify Him in tough times! What joy you would deny yourself.
