Where is God in the news?
An important reminder that we’re not always seeing the full picture
The news these past couple of months has been awful. It seems like it’s been one tragedy on the heels of another. In his article ‘Why, Lord, must evil seem to get its way?’ Winnipeg Free Press columnist John Longhurst describes the sheer weight of it all: the rocket attacks in Gaza and Israel, an airliner shot down in Ukraine, civil war in Syria, an Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the suicide of actor and comedian Robin Williams, a young unarmed man shot dead by police in Missouri, the beheading of journalist James Foley by Islamist terrorists. And on and on it goes.
As someone who got his start in journalism, I know how to chase the 5 W’s (and one H), to never make assumptions and let the facts speak for themselves. If you’ve been keeping even a cursory eye on the news this past summer, the facts are speaking loudly; evil is winning.
However, these stories of horror and tragedy that carry the most weight on the news docket, the most interest on social media, also unfairly unbalance our view of the world. Because I don’t think CNN is equipped to tell the whole story, they end up leaving out an important truth; even in apparent acts of evil God is on the move.
Here at ChristianWeek we don’t shy away from the difficult stories, we don’t edit out the real misery and pain that’s engulfing so many in our world, yet our stories include an important character often left out of your average 30-second sound bite; a God who has a plan.
While the biggest news outlets rarely report on what God is doing, ChristianWeek is doing just that. In this issue, people in Ukraine are responding to the gospel more than ever despite the latest upheavals, in the midst of escalating aggression in the Gaza, some see God’s hand in the foil of a terrorist plot that would have killed and kidnapped hundreds.
God won’t be swarmed in a scrum of reporters on the evening news, yet to every story that seems to suggest darkness is winning, behind the scenes God is commissioning and equipping His children to do His work, and with His help, turn the tide. In every horror He is already setting events in motion to turn evil on its head.
Many people ask, “where is God in all this?” Well that’s our “beat” at ChristianWeek, that’s the question we want to answer every single morning, with every phone call, every interview, and every story.
Because despite what the news tells us, God is at work and He’s calling us to join Him in taking back our world. Be encouraged, take hope knowing the mission God has called you to personally, whether it’s handing out Bibles, or responding to a nudge to pay for the groceries of the lady behind you, is part of a greater invasion force than we know. If we saw the full extent of its size and scope, we may just see as Elisha’s servant did when God opened his eyes, there are more for us than those against.
“When an attendant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. His servant said, ‘Alas, master! What shall we do?’ He replied, ‘Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than there are with them.’
“Then Elisha prayed: ‘O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.’ So the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw; the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6: 15-17 NRSV).
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