Trusting God to work in the gap

I  got an email yesterday with an Advent devotion. The concept of Advent is a new one to me as it wasn’t emphasized in my previous denomination, so I read it with particular interest. It said, in part, “For Advent, pray, work, speak out about the gap between the way the world ought to be and the way it is, while trusting God to work also in the gap." 

I often have a hard time with that gap. I have a very visceral reaction to the judgment, intolerance, and hatred I see in this world. It’s discouraging. It’s  heartbreaking. Sometimes it’s really tempting to just say what’s the point because nothing I do is really going to change anything.  There are some people whose minds are never going to be changed. It becomes easy to doubt whether things will ever get better. Whether what we do or what we say really makes a difference. 

But I think ultimately we have to trust. Trust God to use the seemingly small things we do to serve a very big purpose. To turn our two fish and five loaves of bread into enough bounty to feed thousands. To work in the gap even as we are so busy pointing it out and wondering if it will ever be bridged. Moving forward in the ways that we can, even in the midst of our heartbreak and disillusionment. 

To know that God is in all of this even when we don’t see or feel it. To know that even when our hearts are breaking and our spirits are wounded, God is at work. In the gap between where the world is and where it ought to be. To know that if we choose to work beside God, we will be blessed as we bless. And our offerings that seem so insubstantial will be used by God to feed and nourish many.