This time of year many flee to places where the temperatures and weather are a bit more temperate, and heaven knows there are many such places compared to Ohio! Why doesn’t God just make it all average out? Why the highs and the lows? For that matter why not make everything a bit more consistent? If things must change so much it is at least a gracious thing that the coldest month of the year is also the shortest! It is also a gracious thing that the difficulties we face, though they feel so long, will pass soon enough as well.
It is said that God works in mysterious ways, and this is true. He can be present for us in the obvious places, and even in their opposite. In depth and height in long and short, in good and even in bad God can be found hidden. Consider a couple of examples from scripture. God is present when things require patience, and is even patient Himself; Saint Peter writes “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9). He is also here to ensure that things are not too long and do not test our patience to the limit, as Matthew records Jesus Himself teaching ,“if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.” (Matthew 24:22). These passages show God at work in very different ways. He is there letting things drag on, and making sure that they don’t.
Why doesn’t He simply pick one so that we can learn to recognize when His hand is at work and when it is not? The answer is “for you.” God waits when it is to the benefit of you; He “is patient toward you” when the road is long and the battle hard, and he “cuts short” “for the sake of the elect.” Whatever God does, He is doing it to bless you. Whatever situation you find yourself in, He is in it with you and for you.
These ways do seem mysterious don’t they? But the mysteries of they faith are never discerned by wisdom, but only by that faith that trusts that no matter where we are, God is here and he is here for you. May this reminder encourage you through the days to come.
