There is a song by Christian singer Lauren Daigle that asks God this question;

Where are You now
When darkness seems to win?
Where are You now
When the world is crumbling?

Where are You now 
When all I feel is doubt?
Oh, where are You now
When I can’t figure it out?

It seems more and more of us are feeling this way these days. Where is God when our world seems to be in such a mess and hope for our future and especially our children and their children’s future is so difficult to see?

I read somewhere not too long ago that “just before God created the world, he listened to every prayer that would ever be said”. While we don’t know if that actually happened, it struck me that whether it did or not, he could have if he wanted to (It would answer a lot of things). And it once again hit me, how much greater God is than I tend to think. I often think that God thinks like I do and acts like I would if I were God. But if he did listen to all those prayers, he knew then just like he knows now what the future holds. And we have a word for it (it seems like there is a word for everything)—we call it omniscient. When Christians and even Jews say that God is omniscient, we mean that God knows all things — the past, the present, and even the future. 

When I first read those words about God listening to all those prayers, I thought about all the things God must have heard in them—all the good things and all the not so good. He heard from Adam and Eve’s day and he must have heard all the prayers we will say today as well as the prayers we will say tomorrow and all the days after that. And not just those from the United States but the rest of the world as well. Sure, he had to know about our difficulties—our health and money  and family problems, our trials and tribulations and sufferings. He also had to know that we would pollute the atmosphere and fill the land with garbage and toxic chemicals and he knew we would even fill the oceans with our chemicals and trash. He surely heard about our fights over abortion, and all the other sex related issues raging across our country and our globe. He must have heard about all of our political fights and how all sides despise the other sides. He surely heard how these issues have affected and even split our countries, our communities and our own families. He must have heard about all the poor people around the world forced to leave their homes and families and friends and everything they ever possessed as they set out with the little they could carry on a perilous journey to try to find a better life in another country—only to be turned away. And he must have heard about us and how we turned them away because we were so concerned about ourselves and how these poor people might impact our lives and our standards of living. He must have heard all the hateful words voiced by every side in the Covid battle about masks and vaccinations and schools and work and lockdowns. He could not have missed all the anger and hate and fear, that was everywhere. I’m sure he heard about all the self-righteousness spouted by so many of us, sadly including our leaders and maybe ourselves as well. And he must have heard all the countless cries and screams for help as innocent men, women and children were attacked and murdered in their own peaceful country for no reason other than the pride of one man who needed to feel more important. And I know he had to feel the hearts breaking and tears falling as he listened to all the pleas from all over the world asking him where he was and why he was allowing these things to happen.

God has always known the future. When he listened to those prayers or if it were some other way, he knew, he knows the future. And he knew what a mess we were going to make of everything. He knew all the thoughtless, stupid, selfish and horrible things we were going to do to each other and this planet he gave us to live on. He knew that instead of loving him and each other, we were mostly just going to love ourselves—that we would be selfish, self-centered and self-absorbed. 

He heard all this—He saw all this—He knew all this—and yet he decided to go ahead and create us anyway.

He knew all this, but he still sent Jesus, his one and only son to go through all that he did—for us—for me—for you—the ones who were going to make the mess.

Why would he do this?

Why did God go ahead and create us when he knew what we were going to be like? The only answer that comes to my mind is the time worn response that we’ve all heard so many, many times. God has a plan, no matter what it looks like, he is in control and everything is going as planned. 

That can be hard to accept oftentimes, especially today when it seems not just our country but our entire world is spiraling out of control. And our future prospects don’t seem that great either. By all appearances it can sometimes seem that no one, not even God is in control.

But if God is a loving God and knew all this was going to come about and he created us anyway, it has to mean that he had to have a purpose and he had to have a plan. And though we are a part of his plan, it doesn’t appear that we need to know or understand what it is.

Our part of the plan is to hold on to our faith of course, but just as important to have hope and to hold on to it as well.

Faith and Hope as well as Love are called “theological virtues”. They are called “theological” because they have God as their object. “Faith, Hope and Love” mean faith in God, hope in God, and love of God (and of neighbor for God’s sake).

These are not just your every day run of the mill virtues—they are supernatural virtues. They are supernatural because they are revealed by God and only known by faith, and they must be infused by God into our souls.

Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and all that he has said and revealed to us because he is truth itself. For our Faith to be living and not dead it must work through Charity (Love). 

Hope on the other hand is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but the help and grace of the Holy Spirit. Hope is faith directed to the future.

Everyone has hope. But not everyone has this hope. This hope is not merely our natural desire for happiness, everyone has that. This hope is our response to divinely revealed promises. If we really trust God’s promise of the incomparable happiness of heaven, surely we can give up any earthly good or endure any earthly deprivation for that.

But the big question is, in whom do we place our hope? Do we place it in God or do we place it in a country or government or a certain political system or party or organization or person? Maybe we place it in ourselves as in we will take care of ourselves? Or maybe we place it in science or technology? 

God says he has a plan and that everything is going according to plan. He says that if we will put our hope in him, we no longer need to worry, because he will take care of everything. As usual though, there is a But. The But is, we have to give him everything, all 100% of our hope. We can’t give him 50% and government and science 25% each. It seems like there is always a But to make things challenging.

That song I talked about earlier by Lauren Daigle is named “Look Up Child”. A few more lyrics in response to her asking God where he is:

You’re not threatened by the war
You’re not shaken by the storm
I know You’re in control
Even in our suffering
Even when it can’t be seen
I know You’re in control

I hear you say
Look up child
Look up child

In Whom Do You Place Your Hope?