Feeling Fearful or Purposeful? It’s All in How We SEE.

By Contributing Writer, Leah Smith

I don’t know about you, but lately it seems as though there is a lot of bad news. It’s in our face all the time. News stories go viral within hours, and we can’t help but read them because they are blasting in our news feeds, our in-boxes and on our televisions. Conspiracy stories are all over YouTube and Facebook and the best-seller lists. It seems like things are really getting worse in the world.

World events tend to strike fear in me as a mother. I fear for the future of my children. I think of my future grandchildren and the things they may have to endure. Will there be more wars? Will our daughters have to fight alongside of our sons because now feminism has fought for them to be “equal”? Where is God in all this?

What is His plan for world history, and what is my part in it?

We have to remember that for the first time in history, we are hearing about all the world news, every day and instantaneously. Things appear very bad because we are hearing about every little thing, and when you accumulate all the stories of the day, it seems like one giant, heaping pile of misery and pain in the world.

Of course, no one is reporting all the good things that happened in the world today either. Perhaps someone needs to start a “good-news” network where all the reports are gospel-success stories, missions, people’s lives changed by God, things God is doing in the marketplace and all over the world. I’d like that, wouldn’t you? In the meantime, we need to know how to deal with all the scary news we hear and understand our place in world history as wives, mothers, and homemakers.

We’ve heard all our lives that God is in control. But do we really understand that He not only has the power to do whatever He wants, but He has already determined the end from the beginning? It’s a big concept, but if we can bend our minds around it, it is the most comforting and wonderful thought. All the things going on right now, both good and bad, God has pre-determined to happen.

…remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ’My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose, ‘calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. – Isaiah 46:9-11

A passage like this brings up all kinds of emotions in us. What about all the horrible things that happen in the world? Would a loving God really foreordain these things to take place? I remember when I first considered this perspective. I felt angry. I felt afraid. I even said to my husband that I couldn’t serve a God who would subject people to pain and misery on purpose. I thought it made Him a monster.

I knew in my heart that God wasn’t a monster, and that I did not understand the full picture. I don’t think any person on planet earth has all the answers on this, but we do know some things for sure, revealed to us in the Word of God.

1.  God has pre-determined the end from the beginning.

He created each life that has ever lived and directs the affairs in their existence. He has directed and caused the course of history: all the wars, the weather, earthquakes, famines, and plagues, as well as all the babies born, the unborn that He takes early, the families formed, success, or failures in business.

We act, but God directs.

We think we do whatever we want, autonomously (which simply means by our own standards and rules). But God is not sitting in heaven looking down as a bystander, watching what goes on in the world and randomly answering prayers. No, His hand is upon every detail. If the hair on every head is numbered, then surely God has a plan for our lives, even for the bad things.

2. Jesus has overcome the world.

Whenever I feel overwhelmed by media accumulation, bad news, conspiracy theories, or I just feel afraid of the future, I look to the Word of God for comfort. The Bible says that Jesus defeated Satan on the cross and established His kingdom – which is not just in heaven, but on earth as well, and that He is continually putting His enemies under His feet.

Then cometh the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be abolished is death.  (1 Cor 15:24-26)

In the practical sense, this means God is working in and through the events in our world to put His enemies under His feet. After Jesus has fully developed His kingdom here on earth and made the Great Commission a success, He will “deliver up the kingdom to God” and THEN the end shall come. This gives me a great deal of peace whenever I hear troubling news. I know I can look forward to a time when,

the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.  (Hab 2:14)

3. God loves giving good gifts to His children.

Some of us have heard the expression that God is more concerned with our character than our comfort. This is true. But it doesn’t mean that all we can expect as a Christian are painful lessons (depending on how we respond!) Our Father also wants to give His children good gifts.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.  (Matthew 7:11)

God’s will for us is not to simply experience pain because we’re fallen, and that’s the consequence. He is a loving Father, directing our lives with an eternal purpose, which is part of His plan for world history. We may experience suffering, loss, and pain, but it is for a grand objective, which will ultimately glorify Him.

We are not alone. We are not experiencing the things we are by accident. God is teaching us something in every moment. The things going on in the world are part of His plan, and we are to continue in obedience, preaching the gospel and discipling the nations by first mothering our children and being faithful wives in the home.

The scary stuff out there really is scary, but God is directing those events. He is directing the seemingly insignificant details of our lives too. And we all get to play a role in God’s big drama of world history. Let’s be faithful in the small things, because we know God is using them for a very, very important grand design.