As I think about God's accommodating (adaptable, fitting in with the needs of the moment) will and the patience that he shows towards people, it is a great comfort to me.
(If you like, read about God's accommodating will first HERE from my 3 1/2 weeks in the remote village of Kangwal)
Life back home in the states has seemed as if it falling apart. So much that is good and beautiful seems to be crumbling. I can feel myself clinging desperately to hope but it's easy to tell that my grasp is weakening. Life presses in on all sides, and I can see the futility of so much that we do, strive after, and love.
It is as if there is this persistent thought saying, "It's all futile. In the end, this world, all its relationships, and all its people are broken beyond repair and not worth the effort. What can you really do? If you can barely salvage a minimal number of your closest relationships immediately around you, that is a great success! Life is just painful, a series of losses, and then you get old and die."
While I really am okay, I don't think I'm alone with these feelings (though it is scary to put the futility we feel to words). I know so many who just feel their energy and joy slowly draining away as they realize that their efforts to fend off apathy can barely keep up with the assault of the world all around us.
The world seems to scream at us:
You are small and insignificant. Everything good and new has already been done. You have nothing more to offer. All you can do is fend for yourself - survival of the fittest. That's what everyone else is doing and they will only turn their backs on you sooner or later when you are no longer beneficial to them.
But, its not just individuals but society as a whole. All the great social experiments or solutions have been tried and failed. Socialism and communism does not aid the poor because of laziness, corruption, and greed. Global capitalism may increase wealth in the hands of a few but only exploitation and injustice await the poor. Technology has seemed to bail people out of so many problems but now technology is the cause of global climate change and many other means of poisoning our earth. Even Christianity and other religions have led to the Crusades, religious persecution, hatred, and divisiveness on a large scale. Every dream, idea, and institution that has led us to believe that there may be a solution to our madness has been unveiled as a lie, as futility.
So, many of us, including myself, often feel estranged from one another and hopeless or apathetic about the world we find ourselves in.
What do we do or think about that? What does God say and do about that?
That is why I find so much comfort in God's accommodating will. In the Old Testament, God shows such patience and restraint with people who are addicted to violence, enslave one another, practice polygamy, and so many other self-destructive things. I can't imagine how much it broke His heart to see His children, His beloved people, His bride, hurting themselves. It would break His heart beyond comprehension.
People hurt one another and themselves. We're so broken. Beautiful, but broken.
How great is the God who humbles himself and accommodates the reality of our messy brokenness, showing restraint and patience toward us, while He gently leads us toward his perfect will. In spite of all our failed attempts at making the world better, following Him as His children, and even loving one another, He patiently loves us. He loves us.
Honestly, we do not know Him. He is much better than we imagine Him. His goodness isn't like anything we have ever known or experienced. His patience and love we cannot grasp or begin to fathom. He is altogether different than we are and altogether better.
And, the best part is that He promises to make everything right. He will redeem everything. All futility and brokenness will be perfected, even if it is done more patiently than we would hope.
Though we constantly rebel, He accommodates our brokenness out of love to patiently lead us from our rebellion and selfishness toward the healing and wholeness we can only find (and will find) in Jesus.
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