The Covid-19 virus seems to continue unabated here. Dominating the daily news, people feel like there is no escape from its power. Many are tired, weary of having to be careful and of having to follow restrictions. The vulnerable fear that vaccinations will not fully protect them.

With focused unblinking eyes, friends ask us why God hasn’t answered our prayers to take the virus from this land and why He allows such suffering? We cannot answer their why questions. All we know is disappointments come and, sadly, tragedies happen.

It is challenging to keep our eyes fixed on God when the media constantly publishes pessimistic accounts of national and world events. Negative reports can trip us up and can fuel doubts as to God’s sovereignty over our lives and His world. Such doubts insidiously fester beneath the surface, infecting our faith, draining the lifeblood from our hope and leaving our love for God weakened.

We do not preach ‘life gets better with God,’ although something in us longs for that better life, a life free of pain and suffering. We believe that God is for us, that He is our help. However, life circumstances don’t always mirror that truth. Problems can dominate our thoughts, becoming the stage on which our fears play out.

There’s only one way forward. We must learn to fling our doubts and unanswered questions at God, honestly and with open heart, expecting Him to show us the way through. Rarely does He give us specific answers, but He does stay at our side, walking with us. Taking our scepticism, disillusionment, wretchedness and despair, He shows us the way through, small step by small step. He doesn’t abandon us or let the pain crush us. Instead, He takes it and integrates it into our relationship with Him.

Praise rises as we recognise God bringing peace and a greater understanding of our security in Him. Confidence quietly grows stronger until we can announce ‘He is our help.’ Our witness touches other believers and they too join in, sharing their own experiences of God’s help.

But living a life of faith in a world that seeks to weigh, explain and even apportion blame for pain and tragedy means that we must focus on God and persistently choose to keep Him at the centre of our lives. We don’t know what’s lies ahead but we do trust that He will accomplish His will. We have not seen God but turning to Him in difficulties deepens our faith. The world scarcely understands or encourages us. But we are to live out the richness of our witness, displaying that Christ, not the world, defines our lives and that His help shapes our days and can shape theirs too.

© copyright Gillian Newham 2021