God seems inactive:
when disasters strike
when there is great injustice
when evil gets worse and worse...

God has done something.

He has given us his Word, the Bible. If everyone lived in the way that God intended for us; if everyone kept his commandments and lived according to the kind and loving qualities he tells us to show, human society would be completely transformed. The Bible also tells us of God’s love and the way we can be saved from our sins.

He has given us his Son: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16).

This is the gift of Jesus Christ. But what difference does that make to us? Jesus Christ:

• has dealt with our sins: "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29).
• has dealt with our alienation from God: "No-one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him." (John 1:18). "He who has seen me, has seen the Father." (John 14:9). "This is life eternal, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (John 17:3).
• has laid the foundation for a complete restoration of all God’s creation: "Jesus Christ… whom heaven must receive until the restoration of all things." (Acts 3:20,21). The miracles of healing which Jesus did were, in part, signs of the new heavenly world which is yet to come, when all suffering and illness will be gone for ever. This happens because he himself [Jesus] took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses (Matthew 8:17).

God is doing something.

God is not inactive; he is at work by his Spirit in the world. We can note five ways in which God is working:

1. He is transforming individual lives: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17). When a person is brought to trust in Jesus Christ, God transforms him or her. The old life comes to an end, a new life begins in which God’s power is at work in the heart and life.
2. He is establishing new communities: "Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them." (Acts 2:41). Those people formed a community, the church in Jerusalem, who worshipped together, helped each other, met in each other’s homes, ate together and praised God with gladness together, bound together by love.
3. He is acting to restrain human evil: "The law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane." (1 Timothy 1:9). Through the law God restrains people from behaving worse than they do. God also uses example, public opinion, fear of punishment and conscience for the same purpose. We simply do not know how much worse things might be if God did not prevent it.
4. He is acting in judgment: This is a difficult point because it is hard for us to tell what God is doing by looking at what happens around us. However, in the Old Testament we are shown that God was constantly at work among the nations. Sometimes he gave them strength and the ability to carry out what he wanted, sometimes he punished them for their sins. So we can be sure that behind the scenes God is judging people and nations: "But God is the judge; he puts down one, and exalts another." (Psalm 75:7).
5. He acts secretly in mercy: Once more we are thinking of what we know God is doing, even though we cannot see it at the time. Later on we might see it. For example, the seeds of a real change of heart might be being sown in the hearts of many people, but this only shows itself some years later: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase." (1 Corinthians 3:6). It may look as if those who try and sow the seed are wasting their time, but this can only be proved if there is no harvest later on.

God will do something.

He will bring the present age to an end: Jesus gave a wonderful promise to his disciples after his resurrection, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." So this present age is going to come to an end. No-one knows when or how soon, or how long. God has put the time for this into his own authority. The world will carry on as it has been until God’s time to bring it to an end arrives. It has not ended before now because God is patient, giving opportunity for people to turn to him and receive forgiveness - an opportunity which ought to be seized with both hands. But God will end this age.

He will judge with justice and mercy: At that time he will judge everyone, as we have seen. He judges justly; but there is mercy for everyone who believes in Jesus Christ.

He will bring about new heavens and a new earth: "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." (2 Peter 3:13). There’s a new world coming for those who trust in Jesus Christ.