Is my way hidden?

Recently I've found myself growing weary of pain and suffering in the world. From close friends going through it to people I don't even know but hear about in the news facing painful, dark, discouraging things, I'm just kind of over it!

Maybe I just do better not living in reality because the truth of the matter is that this life is filled with things that are painful and suck. And yet you have a moment like this past week when the value of human life and the good things in this life are highlighted as the 33 Chilean men were rescued from a hole 3 miles down. So we rejoice (I even got teary-eyed) with a man who helped lead and organize them through this crisis. And that's the value of life.

I'm sure those men wondered, especially in the first few weeks when no one knew they were alive, if their way was hidden, if they would be left, forgotten, disregarded.

And sometimes here on earth, don't people wonder that? Where is God in the midst of pain? Have we been left, forgotten, disregarded? Does He know what people are going through? Why doesn't He fix it?

As a believer, hard times and hard things don't shake my faith in Christ or cause me to question His goodness or His sovereignty. Instead it creates a very deep longing for Him to come back and make all things right, as He promised that He'd do. It's not that He's powerless to do it now. He IS working, His kingdom IS advancing, but all this work is taking place in our hearts and in unseen places. Things we only get glimpses of but one day it will all become clear, the final scene in life, when the curtains are pulled back and all of us see what it's all about.

The works that Jesus worked were in our hearts and this is how it is today. Even when Jesus was alive, people wanted him to be the political leader. But he made it clear that this world was not his kingdom. The Kingdom of God would be within us, in our hearts. He's after our heart, ALL of it. I long for that day when He comes back and personally wipes tears from eyes and make all things right. For now we live in that "pause" of history where a lot of unseen things are taking place.

And the interesting thing is whatever pain or suffering you are experiencing, Jesus is familiar with it more than anyone else. Each heart knows its own bitterness...but He sticks closer than a best friend or brother. He is working in our hearts and our lives, even through painful things. I still don't get it, but I guess I don't have to. And when I get weary of all the pain, I remember that He is strong. He is good. He is working, even when I cannot see it.

I just read in Isaiah 40:27-31
"Why do you say O Jacob and complain O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord. My cause is disregarded by my God. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God and the creator of the ends of the earth. HE will not grow tired and weary and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow weary and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, run and not grow weary, walk and not faint."