God's Promises from 2 Chronicles

Life as a missionary always presents unique challenges, but in the middle of a pandemic in a country that’s been on lockdown for over three months, those challenges seem to amplify. We just had a couple of weeks that came upon us like an avalanche. Inevitably, when people that we care about are in crisis, we feel that crisis within our own hearts as we try to help seek solutions and give comfort. As is often the case in life, any one of those crises in this avalanche time would have been enough to worry about on its own. Right now, answering the phone seems like risky business since each day a new crisis seems to pop up. There have been physical and financial needs that my husband, with his servant heart, has been scrambling to meet or to find the resources for. There have been heartbreaking losses and so much grief in the people we love. And there have been sicknesses that feel scary and don’t always offer clear-cut diagnoses. Yet, even in the midst of all of this, I have felt tethered and grounded in the solidity of the Lord.

I can feel any number of intense emotions in a day or a week—anger over the injustice of stolen government funds that have resulted in COVID patients being sheltered by flimsy tents in the rainy season, deep sadness over the mourning of people we care about, fear of illness either for myself or for loved ones, and exhaustion with the overwhelm of it all—but the Lord lets me explore those emotions and name them while providing me a safe home to return to. There is a certain level of resignation within that, a decision that there is nothing more to do than confront all that is coming our way with our faces set like flint and Father God holding our hands. But there is also a softness in the permission that we have to grieve, to be heartbroken, and to admit the valley we find ourselves in. We don’t have to be numb or be guided by a false, brave face. We don’t have to pretend that everything is all right and hide behind clichés. We can really feel it all and still hold the hope of a loving God before us as our compass. So often, we insist that these things—feeling hopeless at times but still believing with our will that there is hope in Him—are diametrically opposed. But, within a complex world and as complex beings with a complex Creator in a paradoxical Kingdom, those two things can be held at the same time. We can weep like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, desiring to avoid suffering and pain, and we can still give God the last word with the desire to obey overruling our comfort. We can pour out our feelings of despair in the first stanza of our prayers and then declare the promises of God over our situation in the second stanza just as David did in the Psalms. The God who created our emotions is big enough to handle them. And, even beyond handling them as if they were a burden, He longs to enter into them with us because there’s a dimension to love that cuts through fear, that wraps us up in arms of security in the midst of doubt, and that collects our tears of sorrow as if they were pearls of treasure that we will only experience in the valley. He knows that the beauty of who He is emerges so sublimely in the midst of suffering.

Some things we just need to get out of our systems before we’ll be able to receive the fullness of hope. We want to know that God can meet us there in that place of doubt and sorrow and that He Himself will carry us to hope. He doesn’t expect us to reach the heights of hope by ourselves. The very faith that we have is only present because He has given it to us. In Psalm 23, we can see clearly that God doesn’t sit comfortably on the mountain calling out to us to get our crap together and pick ourselves up by our bootstraps. He seeks us out in our valleys. He shepherds us and provides what we need right there in that dark place. He lets us know that our emotions are important, that He sees them. He makes Himself trustworthy by being our Friend (as if the God of the Universe should have to prove Himself), and this trustworthiness in experiencing our pain with us is what opens the door to receive the truth of His promises.

As we have felt flooded with needs and with the questions of how much longer the world will suffer, I have received strength from the promises found in 2 Chronicles. The road to hope begins with seeking Him. This is the promise that we have from 2 Chronicles 15:4:

“But whenever they were in trouble and turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him out, they found him.” (NLT)

If you notice, it doesn’t say that we will always find the answers that we seek if we’re seeking answers. There are so many mysteries in this universe that our minds are not equipped to navigate this side of Heaven. Yet, He promises that when we are seeking Him—our Friend, our Comforter, our Redeemer—He will allow us to find Him. He is eager to connect with us in relationship. His ear is inclined toward us. And not only do we have His ears, we also have His eyes as it says in 2 Chronicles 16:9a:

“The Lord keeps close watch over the whole world, to give strength to those whose hearts are loyal to him.” (GNT)

The mental image that comes to my mind for this verse is striking. At this very moment, there are people who love God whole-heartedly across the world living in famine, experiencing persecution, hooked up to a ventilator, burying a loved one, facing an empty bank account and empty cupboards, suffering with depression, confronting injustices, and the list goes on. We were never promised that we would not suffer in this world where sin abounds. Yet the loyalty that we demonstrate toward our Father is reciprocated just as whole-heartedly. His eyes are constantly searching the depths of each nation and corner of the world to give the gift of strength to those caught up in impossibilities who continue to proclaim He is good. I can imagine His eyes scanning Central America, peering into Honduras, gazing deeply into Tegucigalpa until He finds me sitting on my couch in my living room as I write this. That’s such an exercise of faith for me—to imagine God’s vision almost as if I were zooming in with Google Earth. He has the whole grandeur of the universe He created to look at and be distracted by if He should wish, yet He promises that He is the God Sees, and His eyes never stop looking for me. And we can share a look from across a universe as intimate as a married couple having wordless conversations from across the room.

While God does take the time to enter into our emotions, and He takes the time to simply be with us in suffering, like any good father, He also knows there is also a time for standing up for His children. He is soft and kind toward us, and He is unrelenting and fierce toward our enemies. Just because He meets us in the valley and sits with us does not mean that He won’t also fight the bears and lions that come our way, threatening to destroy His children. We may not see with our natural eyes how He is moving on our behalf, but He is. This is the promise of God from 2 Chronicles 20:15b:

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast number, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.’”

Do not be afraid because of this vast number of COVID-19 cases, for He is warring on our behalf. Do not be discouraged because of this vast number of injustices committed by people who have been allowed to govern because He is knows that His justice is even now being set into motion. Do not be dismayed because of this vast number of crises and questions that are arising in your own little world, for it is not your job to have all of the answers and all of the resources and all of the emotional stamina. He does all of those things for you, for me. As someone who is often over-analytical, I can find myself balking at those kinds of declarations initially as my mind brings up another, “But what about…” or another “But what if…” Yet, when I seek the Lord and spend time with Him, I remember who He is. I remember how good and kind He has been to me. I remember how many times He has faithfully provided in ways I absolutely never could have done myself. I remember that He sings victory over my life and the way that has manifested in my circumstances. I remember the promise of eternity with Him. We re-live our history together, and my narrative toward my situation and the situations of the world begins to shift as He gives me His strength. He sees the whole world for all of time. He knows how this chapter of history fits into the story He has been writing since the beginning of creation. He is not callous to us, His characters. He loves us deeply, and He has been fighting to save us since the day humans first rejected Him. He simply hasn’t stopped fighting for us now. 

If you find yourself in a valley today in need of something to help you jumpstart your seeking of Him, here is a playlist that helped me this month walk with the Lord through sorrow to faith:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLERDDFsw5e_oGwReYUubofSQFBTUBKnp7