One early evening, my kids were playing in their room and I called them to do something. However in the midst of their boisterous play, they neither heard nor responded to my call. I went to their room, stood at the door and called them again. They were so engrossed in what they were doing, and with all the noise, they still didn’t seem to hear me, even though I was right at their door. So what did I do next? I quietly turned off the light in their room. And that, my friends, was what finally caught their attention. Immediately there was an uproar and cries of protest swiftly followed: “Hey!”, “What’s happening?”, “Mummy why did you turn off the light in our room?”, “We were playing!”, “That’s not fair!”

Cue me explaining why, i.e. because they were so engrossed in what they were doing, they weren’t paying attention when I called them. Then, they finally responded. Situation resolved, I left their room. As I did so, it struck me that sometimes God has to ‘turn off the lights’ on our distractions so that we can focus on Him, the Light of the world.

As I reflected on this, I made a note to write about it. Incidentally, yesterday morning I was listening to music, and this beautiful song randomly came on, “Sometimes It Takes a Mountain” by Gaither Vocal Band (Link here). The chorus goes:

“Sometimes it takes a mountain
Sometimes a troubled sea
Sometimes it takes a desert
To get a hold of me
Your love is so much stronger
Than whatever troubles me
Sometimes it takes a mountain
To trust You and believe.”

As I listened to the song, I was truly blessed by it, and I thought of the experience I described earlier. God is always trying to get and keep hold of our attention, but we are so easily distracted. As James MacDonald notes, “God will go to incredible lengths to get your undivided attention.”

In the last four months plus, I have been through one of the most challenging periods of my life. Nevertheless, it has drawn me so close to God, boosting my Prayer life, Worship life, Word life. In this period, I have truly spent quality time with God, more than I have done in quite a while. Even though I never want to go through that experience again, I can say to the devil what Joseph said to his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done.” (Genesis 50:20a).

Such incidences can seem like mountains when we first encounter them, but they can end up as stepping stones that allow us climb closer to God. John Piper, in response to his cancer diagnosis, stated that “this news has, of course, been good for me. The most dangerous thing in the world is the sin of self-reliance and the stupor of worldliness. The news of cancer has a wonderfully blasting effect on both. I thank God for that. The times with Christ in these days have been unusually sweet.” In the midst of dealing with my challenging diagnosis, I can say that I totally echo that last line! Charles Spurgeon captures this attitude so beautifully in this quote I heard in church, “I have learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages.” It brings to mind one of my favourite verses, “From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the Rock that is higher than I” (Psalm 61:2, KJV). Sometimes it is overwhelming situations which pull us by the hand and lead us to the Rock that is higher than us, The ROCK of Ages. Sometimes it is the winds of pain that blow us into the presence of God. Sometimes it is the coldness of this world that draws us to the warm embrace of our Abba. At the end of the day, anything that leads, blows, draws us to the presence of God is worth it.

I quite like this meme. Remember it when next you sing “Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders” :-):

I need to emphasise that I don’t believe that it is God that causes bad things to happen to us. The devil is the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy, God is a life giver and He doesn’t tempt anyone (John 10:10, James 1:13). We should therefore not simply assume that experiencing a challenging situation is God trying to grab our attention. He is not a cruel God. I do believe God can permit tough challenges to happen to us though, as in the case of Job and Simon Peter (Job 1:12, Luke 22:31). Similarly, what Jesus said in Matthew 10:29-31 (NLT) also illustrates this “What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.”

God can permit testing, sifting, a sparrow falling to the ground.  We may not know or ever understand the reasons why He permits this. Even when God responded to Job, He did not explain why He permitted all that suffering to happen to Job. In fact God Himself had told Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil” (Job 1:8, NLT). As such, it was not necessarily a case that God needed to get hold of Job’s attention. Sometimes these experiences happen, not because God needs convincing that we are faithful, but because we ourselves need that experience and convincing. This way, when the devil tries to convince us that we only love God because of what He has given us, we can retort that even when those things were taken away, we still trusted God. That said, God as an omniscient being knows why He does what He does, and if we trust God and have faith in Him, that should be enough.

I do think though that one of the reasons such things are permitted to happen may be to get our attention. While God loves to bless His children, sometimes it is the very things He blesses us with that end up being the things that distract us from Him – a career, business, hobby, marriage, even ministry. Someone once said, “sometimes what didn’t work for you really worked out for you,” and there is so much truth in that. Tim Keller notes that “good things seen as blessings (beauty, power, comfort, success, recognition) but received without faith in God will become curses. Hard things seen as curses (weakness, deprivation, loss and rejection), but received with faith in God will turn into blessings”. And in the words of C.S. Lewis, “We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

This does not mean that we have to sit and suffer endlessly, just as I didn’t leave the light off in my children’s room permanently, but turned it on again after a couple of seconds. God is a merciful, loving, faithful God. He will not allow us to endure more than we can bear, and He will always provide a way out (1 Corinthians 10:13). I was in the room with my children when the lights were off, I never left them. Similarly Psalm 34:18 (NIV) encourages us by reminding us that “The LORD is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” He has promised to always be with us (Deuteronomy 31:8; Matthew 28:20) and He always, always keeps His promises. If there is one we can trust, it is God. He is with us always, and His presence is not dependent on whether the lights are on or off (Psalm 139).

I pray that if we are going through a season were it feels like the lights have been turned off, we will remember that God is with us, and that this too shall pass. May the light that brings restoration, joy and celebration come on again in our lives soon. I pray especially that when the lights are switched on again, our focus will not shift from God to the things that so easily distract us. May our focus on God remain steadfast and unwavering, whether the lights are on or off. And when we get to the mountain top, may we not forget the lessons we learnt in the valley. Rather, may we be a channel of comfort and light to those in the valleys of their lives, showing people what God is like.

God is with you. As this encouraging proverb notes, “However long the night, the dawn will break.” Wait for the Lord, more than the watchmen wait for dawn, wait for the Lord (Psalm 130:6). Without a doubt, He will show up for you.

Image source here.

Another beautiful song that may encourage you is God On the Mountain by Lynda Randle (link here).