What Do We Do When God Seems Absent? | Rev. Wil Cantrell

Scriptures: Matthew 5:43-45; Psalm 130 

The passage from Matthew tells us that Jesus presumed that there was evil and suffering in the world – “God makes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust”. God’s provision is present even while acknowledging that the world isn’t perfect. What Jesus tells us to do when people are hurting us, and God seems far away is to react with love. Psalm 130 reminds us that the proper response for people of faith is to continue reaching out to God in the midst of suffering even though it seems we’re in the deepest depths. What we do when experiencing personal suffering is hold to whatever slim thread of faith there is, continue to communicate with God, and to respond with whatever love we can muster. More importantly, when times are good, when God seems close, our responsibility is to be Christ to those who aren’t seeing Christ. We are to be light in darkness, agents of peace for someone’s turmoil, and to point to Christ by being his hands and feet when we see chaos and suffering happening to others.