Where is God?

Today, I’ll finish out what’s turned into a mini-series on the topic of caring for people. I know we’re often drawn to read a blog because it helps address a need in our own life. This series, however, is a reminder that if we consider ourselves Christians, we must be intentional to care for other members of the body of Christ. If you’re tempted to assume you already know this and move on, I encourage you to keep reading.The reason this third blog exists is because, as I typed my final lines in the last post, I wrote:

In a crisis, it’s often the time when the people affected are wondering, “Where’s God?” We’re called to answer that question.

I can’t simply leave that statement hanging because, more times than I can handle, I’ve seen the enemy use the silence of God’s people to take out a believer during a crisis. We must push past our own needs and schedules to realize that more hangs in the balance when caring for people than delivering a casserole. We’re vessels used by the Lord to remind people that God hasn’t left them or forsaken them.[bctt tweet="More hangs in the balance when caring for people than delivering a casserole."]When you’re looking at your mother or father, daughter or son, knowing they’ve just received a terminal diagnosis, you need to know that God’s heart breaks with you. And God chooses to use people to deliver that reminder. The fact that God sent His Son to this earth should make us realize how much priority God places on the importance of a physical manifestation of His love in people’s lives. We mustn’t be absent.When you lose a job, go through a divorce, or lose a loved one, and you can’t see how you’re going to make it, the enemy wants you to believe you’re alone. He wants you to believe no one cares. He wants you to think the people who supposedly follow Jesus aren’t going to be there for you. You do understand that your “adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8), right? The battle is real.What better time is there for the enemy to attack than when a family is weary and afraid? Your presence and your friendship may be the very thing that the Lord uses to remind someone to keep fighting the good fight and to keep believing in God’s goodness, even though the consequences of a sin-stained world are real.[bctt tweet="Caring for someone in need isn’t about having all the answers."]Caring for someone in need isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about them knowing they aren’t alone. God will show His faithfulness through the crisis… but in a very real sense, that’s what He calls us to. Will we be faithful through the crisis?May we be daughters and sons of the King who prove that love works to people at all times… but especially in the valleys of life.