What is God Doing?

What is God doing? When things happen that we don't understand we often stand and demand that God give us an answer. What is he doing? We're expecting God to justify his actions to us. That's actually role reversal.

1 Peter 5:6-7

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What is God doing? When things happen that we don’t understand we often stand and demand that God give us an answer. What is he doing? We’re expecting God to justify his actions to us. That’s actually role reversal.

We the creature, God is the creator. He is the one who is in control not us. Peter reminds us of that in his first epistle. He said,

Therefore humble yourselves under God’s powerful hand so that he may lift you up at the appointed time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7)

Peter says to humble yourself under God’s mighty hand. What he is really getting us to do is to remember who we are. We’re not the creator. We’re the creature. It is God the creator’s hand who is powerful and whose hand is in control. So Peter says place yourself under that hand.

That might be a scary thought. That powerful hand of God on top of us. Is he just going to squish us? Is he going to crush us? He certainly could. He may be even has reason to, when we look at the way that we’ve lived. Because of our sinful choices and actions that powerful hand should be against us. It should crush us in punishment for our sins.

But Peter tells us that that hand will lift us up at the appointed time. God’s hand isn’t going to just come falling down on us, but it’s going to come under us and lift us up. That’s what Jesus was doing on the cross. He stretched out those hands and allowed them to be pinned with nails to a piece of wood so that he could bear your sins, my sins, and the sins of the whole world.

Jesus’ hands show us that God is not wanting to crush us and punish us, but to lift us up. And so when you picture those powerful hands of God working for your good, you can do what Peter says. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.

No matter what you’re worried about, this virus, finances, family, other medical problems, whatever is making you anxious, you can take it and just dump it in to those powerful hands. And you can be assured that God will use his power to carry those burdens because as Peter says he cares for you. God sees you in all of the difficulties that you’re facing. He loves you and wants to see you through all those problems, because he cares for you. He will lift you up and carry you through life.

So come to him, cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Amen.

Timothy Hartwig
Timothy Hartwig

Tim Hartwig is currently serving as President of the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary.

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