Broken-Down House
But there is another truth at work here as well, something else that you must face up to: it is not an accident that you are right here, right now. God has chosen and arranged for you to live precisely where and when you are living. It can be hard to grasp, but the God who is the ultimate source of wisdom, power, and love has exercised all three of these limitless attributes to place you where you are today. In Acts 17 Paul says of God that “he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else . . . and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live” (vv. 25–26). God chose for me to be alive in this period of history. He alone determines the day of my death. And he decided exactly where I would live! This means God has a reason and a purpose for me, here and now, in this broken-down house of a world. His wisdom and intentionality are at work in my life and in yours. Yet I think this is the point where we often lose our way: the harsh realities of the fallen world can tempt us to question God’s wisdom, or love, or power, or all three. The hardships we face often don’t make sense to us. We find ourselves swept up in something far bigger than we are—a global economic crisis, for example—and it can seem like a vast system of unrelated, impersonal forces is actually affecting the world in a random way, instead of a loving and omnipotent God ruling the world in a purposeful way. The collection of large and small difficulties that make up so much of our lives can seem like pointless obstacles blocking our access to the good life God has promised us. It is admittedly difficult to greet hardships as a testimony to God’s wisdom, power, and love, but that is exactly what they are. The only reason we find it hard is because the “good” we seek and hope for is different from the good that God is accomplishing through the difficulties that come our way. Often when we look back on a “good” week, we think it was good because it was comfortable, predictable, pleasurable, controllable, successful, etc. Our evaluation of the week is shaped
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