What to Do When God Feels Absent | Exodus 9 | Crossroads Daily

And I think the encouraging thing is I can look back and see where his justice did happen. Like when I'm in that monotonous, like any day now, maybe sometimes I should look back on the times when justice has happened to remember it'll come. Not sure when, but it'll come. This is the Crossroads Daily. No experts, no perfect people, just honest conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life. All right, welcome back to Crossroads Daily. My name's Caleb. I'm Dani. I'm Josh. I'm Arturo. And we are in the middle of the plagues on Egypt. We got three more today. Let me show you them right. We got livestock, boils, and hail. How exciting. Livestock, just a wonder wharf of amazingness. Livestock, boils, and hail. No, it did not. Boils. Has anyone had a boil? I cannot say that. It's just like a watery bump, right? I don't know. I don't want to find out. I got sunburned real bad when I was a kid and I had these huge blisters. That's not the same. Not the same? Yeah, I think a boil is hard. I'm sorry, this is gross. So we got livestock, boils, and hail. One of the things that sticks out to me from this is God's patience. We were just talking off camera earlier that God could have rescued His people with one plague and been out, right? But it seems like He is giving Pharaoh and the Egyptians an opportunity to recognize what they've done wrong and fix it, right? And actually, as we get later in the story, Pharaoh's officials come to him and they're like, we're being destroyed. Just let them go. And he's so obstinate that he still won't do it, right? He cannot be wrong because he's Pharaoh. So we see God is patient, but God is also just. He's not so patient that He's just going to let His people stay in Egypt forever and suffer. So to get us started out, they're both true of God

at the same time, but which characteristic of God is more resonant in your life right now? His justice, He's fixing things that are wrong, or His patience? I'll say for me, I'll get started, God's patience for me right now. I'm just unpacking this. I've never unpacked this out loud before, but I want to set a good example for my kids, right? I want my kids to look at me and see their dad taking risks and doing difficult things and acting on faith, right? Because that's going to teach them to do the same thing. I had an opportunity, I came home one day and my kids and wife had decided that we were going to go on a go trip, which is like a mission trip. You go somewhere and you help people out, right? It was to Puerto Rico. And then I looked at the price tag and I was like, we're not going to Puerto Rico, dude. That's got a comma in it. That's more money than I've ever had in my life at one time. We're not going to do that. And of course, my kids and wife were like, hey, if God wants us to go, we'll fundraise. And I'm like, we ain't going to Puerto Rico. And now I've heard from the people who've gone to Puerto Rico and come back and the life changed and see what God did. And just realizing, yeah, that was a swing and a miss. And God still loves me. He's patient with me. He's growing me. I think he's going to give me another opportunity, which will probably freak me out and I'll need help to say yes to again. But at least I have this in the rear view mirror to look back on and be like, you know what you missed last time? Step back in the batter's box and swing again. So God's patience for me. I think for me, I'm in this justice phase right now. And I feel like I'm in the midst of a situation that is super confusing, no clear direction, very chaotic and swirly. And I'm just I know that God is going to fix it. And I know that there's injustice in there. But that's that's where I'm sitting right now. Like, all right, God, fix this because I can't, you know. Yeah. You have to get your hands off the wheels. Oh, yeah. The wheel. Yeah. Listen. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And like, I do only what he can do. That's hard. It is. That's sitting in limbo. I I believe God is just I just don't see it right now. I'm like in in the world I'm currently living in, looking around and seeing what I think justice is and it not being done has caused me not to question God. It just makes me sort of go, you know, like a dog will go about God being a just God. I'm not seeing it. And so I'm actually wrestling with the justice of God right now, just in life, just looking at the world and going, none of none of this feels just.

it feels the opposite. So I'm really struggling with justice, especially the way I think justice should be done. Yeah, if you don't care, I'm gonna dig a little bit on that. Yeah. Because I think people don't know how to struggle. Yeah. So what does that look like for you? Is it, well, I don't wanna put words in your mouth. What is the activity of struggling? For me, it's genuine. Me and the Psalms are real good friends. So it's genuine going, Lord, this does not line up with what you have said about yourself. The world I'm living in, the things that I'm seeing, the injustice I see, it doesn't feel like you. So either I have misread or there's something else that's happening. So I'm just going to trust because I've seen goodness in you, Lord. I've seen goodness. That you have some kind of plan, but otherwise, just looking from the outside in, it looks like you took your hands off the wheel, Lord, and justice stopped being served by you. It's not like a crisis of faith, but it's more like, I need your help explaining this. Just explain this to me, Lord, because I don't understand.

Yeah. I don't understand. There's nothing wrong with wrestling. No, not at all. There's a lot right with wrestling. That's right. That's right. Yeah. That's right. I think that's like, it goes to your point, yours is patience and justice. God is so patient that sometimes he lets us, I think he lets us try to work this thing out, right? And then eventually he's got to come in and plagues come or whatever. And I think about like sitting in this space of how much longer is this going to be like this? And the Israelites probably were feeling the same way, right? How much longer do I have to make these stupid bricks? Right. It's hot. When is God coming, you know? Yeah, I don't think it's a cakewalk either. Even if you're protected, it's not a cakewalk to look across the plain or whatever and see millions of locusts eating all the food, right? Or to see hail rain, like I'm glad it's not hailing over here, but it's not like enjoyable TV to sit and watch hail

destroy all of Egypt, right? I mean, there is a difficulty still. Well, even like thinking about, so the Israelites had a horrible job that they were doing. It was hot and they're building and whatever. And Moses goes in and says, hey, can you let my people go to the wilderness so that they can worship their God? And Pharaoh is like even worse. He's like, you know what? They're lazy. They should do more work, right? And that feels like even more injustice, right? And God's being patient. And then all of a sudden, now we got hail and boils. Lovely things that come with it. Pustules. And dead animals. It's an interesting thing to put patience and justice because as you guys are sharing and I'm processing over here, if you're not in one, you're in the other. Maybe justice isn't always visibly seen. Maybe patience is just flat line and then justice is parabolic or it's whatever this term is. You'll see it every now and again, but it's in constant motion. We just don't get to see it when we're just going this direction of patience and waiting and waiting and the monotonous day-to-day

that's hard. Every now and again, we'll see his justice. And then the process of waiting for it to come up, to come down, we just stay in this patience. And I think the encouraging thing is I can look back and see where his justice did happen. Like when I'm in that monotonous, like any day now, maybe sometimes I should look back on the times when justice has happened to remember it'll come. Not sure when, but it'll come. And he's kind. He knows what we're going through. I mean, he created us, right? Like he knows what we're feeling. And so he's ready to receive all the doubt, worst case scenario. And the best case scenario is just processing with him. Like any minute now, come on, this is hard. And you just keep adding to it. But I guess we'll get there. We've been through it before. We've gotten this this far. So I don't know, it's just an interesting thing. And that's what comes to mind. Absolutely. So God is a God of justice. He's also a God that is patient and he can handle whatever you're feeling. So we're gonna take a page from Josh's book. Here's my challenge for you today.

I want you to go to Google and Google a psalm about whatever you're feeling. A psalm for frustration, a psalm for anger, a psalm for joy, a psalm for gratitude. Borrow it. Borrow that psalm, pray it to God, let it open a door between you and Him as you get more and more honest about what's going on. I believe you're in the middle of your story, just like we're in the middle of this story. God's not done with you. He's patient, He's just, there's more to come. We'll see you next time.