What to Do When You Can't See God Working

Are you going through a difficult time in your life? Maybe it’s work or stress-related, or maybe you are struggling with relationships. Maybe it’s something in your financial life. And no matter what you do in any of those areas, it feels like you’re trapped in a pit you can’t get out of.

But do you know that the problem you have right now is currently on its way out of your life? It will all come to an end eventually, even if it looks like it won’t. Even if it looks like God has abandoned you, He hasn’t. He’s been with you the whole time!

When hard times come, it can be so easy for Satan to distract us from what God is doing in our lives. And in the midst of it all, the devil wants you to focus on what you can see—all of your troubles and fears in the moment—more than what God is doing on your behalf through your struggle.

And if you want to have a steady flow of joy in your life, and peace “which transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7 NIV), then you have to learn how to believe what you can’t see more than you believe what you can see.

Learning to See the Unseen

You know, Paul talked about seeing the unseen a lot. In his letter to the Church in Ephesus, he wrote: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe…(Ephesians 1:18-19 NIV).

So you have physical eyes that you use to see the world around you, but you also have spiritual eyes, or the “eyes of your heart,” that give you an awareness of spiritual things that are invisible to the natural eye. Those spiritual things are our “glorious inheritance” that Paul is talking about in Ephesians.

Sadly, we are so accustomed to only believing what we see right in front of us with our natural sight. If we don’t see God doing something, then we assume He’s not doing anything. But the truth is, He’s always working, and if we’ll just believe that and keep our hope in Him, then we will see evidence of His work in His time and His way.

And that’s when we realize that He was always with us, always doing what was best for us and everyone else in the situation all along.

I’ve discovered that when I start to get discouraged because of a problem I’ve been praying about for a long time, instead of getting down in the dumps, it helps to say out loud, “God is working.” Because the Bible says if you will believe God is working, even when you don’t see it or feel it, then God keeps working (Hebrews 11:1, 6).

A Spiritual Helper

It’s difficult at times to trust God more than what we see right in front of us. You might be thinking, Joyce, it’s just too much—I can’t even begin to see Him in all this. And you’re right! On our own, we’ll never be able to discern how God is working in our lives.

That’s why He’s provided us with the Helper (John 14:26-27 ESV). You see, when we accept Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell inside us—God literally gives each one of us a little piece of Himself.

The Holy Spirit trains us to see with our spiritual eyes. He knows exactly what your situation is, and no matter where you are, He knows exactly what you need and can minister to you personally and individually. He will help counsel you, comfort you and protect you; He will not leave you nor forsake you (Deut. 31:6, John 14:26-27, and Hebrews 13:5).

He Is Always Guiding You

You should have seen us in the early days of the ministry. We had a dream of reaching people around the world one day, but our beginning was very small. We had a car and a little bubble trailer—and there was me and Dave and a worship leader, along with one of our daughters and son-in-law who drove the resources back and forth. There were a lot of tough times, and so many people sacrificed for us to be able to do what we’re doing today. But God was there in all of it, moving us along inch by inch.

He guided us to where we are today, and He is doing the same for you!

I just want to encourage you to stop and think several times a day, God is working in my life, God is working on my problem, and God is working on my loved ones. Be full of hope. And no matter what you do—no matter what you see or don’t see—always remember that God is present, even if you can’t see Him.