“But the LORD is the true God;
he is the living God and the everlasting King. […]”
(Jer 10:10)

This is one out of many verses in the Bible that refer to our God as the “living” God – a God who acts (Isa 64:4), One who is active.

Do you see the activeness of God in your own life?

We may not see it when our prayers remain unanswered for a long time – our problems remain unresolved and our desires unfulfilled, despite our persistent pleas to God over the years.

We may also struggle to see the activeness of God, because God is not someone whom we can see and hear physically, and seeing Him requires us to take a pause from our very happening and busy earthly lives.

If we fail to see the activeness of God in our lives, we will be easily discouraged in our faith as we start to have wrong ideas about God: that God is uncaring, unable, and unaware. Yet, Hebrews 11:6 tells us that to please God, we need to have faith – that He is (active!), and He rewards those who diligently seek Him.

How, then, can we start seeing the activeness of God in our lives? Let us learn from the examples of two people in the Old Testament.

Job’s example

Job lost all his children, wealth, and health in one day. Then, he had to endure the harsh judgements of his wife and later his three friends who were supposed to comfort him. Time passed, with no change in his situation, and no answers from God, until God finally spoke in chapters 38 to 41 of the book of Job.

After all this, how did Job finally see the activeness of God? Was it at the point when he saw his physical fortunes being restored (Job 42:10)?

Here was what Job said after hearing God’s answers:

“I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
But now my eye sees you; […]”
(Job 42:5)

Job saw the activeness of God just by hearing God’s words! Not by seeing his situation immediately changing for the better.

Furthermore, what was the content of God’s message to Job? In chapters 38 to 41 of the book of Job, we see that God spoke to Job about His unfathomable power and wisdom as seen in His creation – for example, from laying the foundation of the world (Job 38:4), to arranging the stars in their constellations (Job 38:31), to sustaining the life cycles of a myriad of animals (e.g. Job 39:1-2). Thus, leading to Job’s conclusion about God:

“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”
(Job 42:2)

Job further concluded that God’s counsel was too wonderful for him to understand as a mere human (Job 42:3). Indeed, as written in Isaiah 55:8-9, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and God’s ways are higher than our ways.

So, a question for us today: in our lives, can we see the activeness of God just by hearing and trusting His words, even when our difficult situations do not change for the better?

Hagar’s example

As a slave of Abraham and Sarah, Hagar had no say in her mistress and master’s decision to bear a child through her. After she became pregnant, Hagar also lost her job and housing twice. The first time was when, during her pregnancy, Hagar made the mistake of despising a barren Sarah (Genesis 16:4), who then abused Hagar until she fled. Even so, Hagar was given another chance to return to her master’s house (Genesis 16:15). The second time was when her son Ishmael had grown up, and he was laughing (perhaps mockingly) during a feast for Isaac’s weaning (Genesis 21:8-9); and so, because of her son’s mistake, both Hagar and her son were thrown out of their master’s house, this time for good (Genesis 21:10).

Despite Hagar’s fair share of mistakes and identity as a Gentile, God still actively revealed Himself to her in various ways. For example:

“The angel of the LORD found her…” (Gen 16:7)

“… the LORD who spoke to her” (Gen 16:13)

“And God heard the voice of the boy, […]” (Gen 21:17)

“Then God opened her eyes, […]” (Gen 21:19)

“And God was with the boy, and he grew up.” (Gen 21:20)

Even though as an Egyptian (Gen 16:1), Hagar had yet to acknowledge the God of her master, God still reached out to her and revealed Himself in her most trying and loneliest times.

How much more for us today, as His believers – if we sincerely call upon God and seek Him with all our hearts, how will He not hear us and reveal Himself, including His good plans for us (Jer 29:11-13)? The problem is, as Christians, have we kept our eyes and ears peeled for the moments when God is actively reaching out to us every day? Or are we going about our lives on senseless autopilot, drowning so much in the busyness of our earthly lives that we can no longer see or hear God?

When we try to pause and notice the acts of God in our everyday lives, we will be able to echo these words of Hagar from our hearts: “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” (Gen 16:13)

Finally: sometimes, for us to see the activeness of God, we need to be patient.

For Hagar, God spoke to her and helped her within a few days, depending on the length of her journey from Abraham’s house to the wilderness.

For Job, God only answered him after his heated exchanges with his friends and then restored his fortunes and family over a long span of 140 years (Job 42:16).

Therefore, in hard times and unanswered prayers, when we struggle to see God’s activeness and feel disheartened, let us remember: God operates on an infinite timeline, and He is not slow to fulfil His promises (2 Pet 3:8-9).