Where’s the Love of God in This Dark World?
On most evenings, I turn on the evening news. I want to see the the lead stories, to see if there was anything big in the world I missed while my nose was buried in crafting Bible studies. Inevitably, I’m bombarded with violence … another shooting … another looming health crisis … another round of political name-calling and mud slinging … another act of injustice. And that’s all before the first commercial break.
Hoo boy. What a visual onslaught of bad news on which to end my day. I’m grieved, but I’m not despondent. Despite the bad news, the violence, injustice, and self-centered mess, we still have cause to rejoice. Why? God has not left us alone. His unfailing love is also present.
“For the word of the Lord is right, and all his work is trustworthy. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the Lord’s unfailing love” (Ps. 33:4-5).
I’m not dismissing the horrible things that happen each day with some naïvely optimistic bury-my-head-in-the-sand attitude. Far from it. But I must remind myself that God has not left us. He is still the Lord. Psalm 33 reminds me that, with all the sin and wrong in the world, this place is also full of God’s unfailing love.
He’s here. Just look for Him. Look for where He is at work. When we trust Him, we can by faith not only trust His presence in our lives, but we trust that He is at work in the world around us. And that is what keeps me from getting despondent while watching the network news.
“You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you” (Isa. 26:3).
Unfortunately, not everyone sees God or evidence of His presence. That’s where we, His children, come in. We are to be His light in this dark world.
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8).
We are to “proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9).
“Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world” (Phil. 2:14-15).
Those without Christ need to see this light, but how can they unless we who trust in Christ show them the love of God? As His church, we are to be a conduit of His unfailing love to the world around us. People will flock to the church, not simply because we rant against sin, but because we point to something far greater: God and His unfailing love.
God’s unfailing love is in this world because His unfailing love is in us. May we shine that love to those around us. Let’s be the beacon of hope to those who feel despondency when they see the darkness of the world in the evening news.
“May your faithful love rest on us, Lord, for we put our hope in you” (Ps. 33:22).
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