God on the Back End

Talking with a friend today who spoke the question most of us ask.
His friend has been going thru a tough time and asked, "What good did
all of this obedience get me? What use is it when it seems like
those who don't care seem to do better?" Those are questions that
eventually haunt every person. What hit me is that I often want to
find God on the front end, to see immediate response when it seems I
most find God working on the back end, doing just what Romans 8:28-29
says. Psalm 73 is the biblical struggle with the same question. And
the answer is the same, look at the back end, when God's ways and
purposes are fulfilled.

We are front end people, at least I am. It is a strong discipline to
live for the back end, for the future that stretches thru the ages.
Jesus lived on the back end, "For the joy set before him he endured
the cross." Farmers live for the back end. Investors do as well.
But living for the back end is hard. And waiting to find God in the
back end.. calls every ounce of faith. Still, the long view, the
back end may be the only funnel of hope when life gets crazy. "Where
is God when I need him most?" Maybe he is working on the back end,
bringing all things to work for good. And that takes a lot of work
to bring some of the stuff I have to good.