This is an example of my weekly email. Every week, I hope to reach out to you with a reflective question that could help you grow a life of purpose and meaning by seeking God. Questions have been my way of seeking, groping for, learning, and living with God. Maybe the question practice will help you, too.
A homeowner stands in her living room. Her eyes are closed.
Weeks before, this multi-functional space had an awkward layout, not-so-trendy shag carpet, and a dusty light fixture eking out yellow light that barely reaches the corners of the room. After a count to three, the woman opens her eyes. For a moment there is silence, her mouth open in a little o. Then the exclamations, the hugs, the “oh my goshes” gush out as she takes in the transformation.
The living room now boasts “conversation centers”, well-situated accent tables, lakes of sunlight pooling on the floor, a crackling fire burning merrily in a fireplace that used to be a blank wall. The before and after blows everyone away: the homeowners, you and I on our couches watching the latest episode so we can feel that swell of inspiration one more time.
This scene is repeated in kitchens all over cable: Dated 80s cabinets are switched out for mint-green boxes with brushed gold hardware and Kilim carpet runner on the kitchen floor.
And outdoors for curb appeal dialed way up: Plain-Jane bricks get an Old World update with a coat of German Smear. (German schmeeeeer! Remember that episode?)
And bathrooms, and laundry rooms, and sunrooms, and main bedrooms and…you get the idea.
Personally, I’m scouring the web for an tribal, boho, oriental rug with orange, pink, and yellow accents. But I digress.
Everyone loves a good before and after. Transformation. And, especially, transformation we can see.
Cabinets ripped out and replaced; 50 pounds melted away; dreamed job found and loved.
But what happens when we pray for changed circumstances and these four walls and this battered heart look every bit as dismal as they did before we closed our eyes and lifted our hands to heaven?
- Where is the deliverance from food addiction we’ve begged for, as we head to the kitchen for the umpteenth time today?
- Where is the job we’ve pleaded for, as we worry about the future and try to cut back a little more on the budget?
- Why are those children still hungry?
- Why are these political opponents still battling on social media?
- When will my spouse…?
- When will my house…?
In other words, if God is working for my good, where is the transformation? If the Holy Spirit promised to groan to the Father on my behalf when I don’t have the words, why is my life so achingly empty of its evidence?
We get some insider information in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NKJV):
Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
God favors the eternal and focuses His hidden work on what will last.
We beings of flesh are derivatives of the spiritual world; the spiritual realm existed first, and from those eternal forms, our temporary world was created.
God Himself is a spirit and it makes sense that He sees us, firstly, as eternal souls in temporary bodies. Our circumstances can seem so hard right now – and they are hard – but God sees the end game. Pain doesn’t last.
The latest, greatest marble tile or custom cabinetry will eventually be torn out, broken down, and returned to dust. Just like our bodies and our problems. Nothing we see lasts.
But what does? Character.
This is where I’ve learned to look for God’s greatest work in my life.
When I prayed for calmness in my relationship with my children, He didn’t point me toward the latest book (or find me a babysitter), but I did notice the gradual reduction of angry outbursts on my part, along with extended patience and swelling compassion. These I can take with me to my eternal home in my eternal soul. What’s hard is often harvested later.
- God didn’t immediately snatch away my abdominal pain when I was in the midst of extended health issues, but He did dig a deep well of compassion for suffering people.
- Jesus’ disciples expected Jesus to conquer the Roman empire and restore the kingdom to Israel. Instead, Jesus conquered death. Less visible, but far more valuable.
- God doesn’t always change our circumstances with befores and afters we can see, but He changes us. It’s the hidden work of the hand of God.
A final point since I know this email is getting long: When I’m hurting, I’ve learned to take a suggestion from Where is God when it hurts? by Philip Yancey. He wrote that when we’re suffering, and we wonder where God could’ve wandered off to, then look for God’s comfort in His people. Did someone bring you a meal when you were sick? That was God’s spirit working in the hidden realm of a fellow believer’s spirit on your behalf. Same for that timely call when you were on the brink.
And often, God helps us in visible ways, too, such as the unexpected bonus that arrived in the mail the day your electric bill was due. He knows we are but dust. In the inner soul or the outer circumstance – that was always God, present and working, God’s touch crafting in the eternal realm an exceeding weight of glory.
So here’s a reflection question for this week: Where have I seen God working on my spiritual character even when my circumstances haven’t changed?
Blessings,
Janet
This is a great post! Keep writing.