Job 5:8-13. A recommendation to seek God in times of uncertainty or suffering. He "does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number." He raises up the lowly and "those who mourn are lifted to safety." But he "frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success ... the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end."

Well, I don't know about quick 🙂! I, and many others, have been waiting for what seems like a really long time (and suffering a lot in the process) for the schemes of the wily to be brought to an end! Their hands seem to be achieving a lot of success lately! But now we can start to slightly see that they are not; that it is all a show - bravado they are adopting as their plans start to fail. God is frustrating their designs, slowly but surely, and we have to remember that God's time is not our time - "quick" to him can be what seems like an eternity to us - longer than a lifetime.

So how then do we know that it is happening - that the devices of the crafty are being frustrated? Well, first of all, look to the crafty ones we can see in front of our eyes, our politicians, our leaders. Are they accomplishing anything after all of the deception that they have gone through to get in the positions that they're in? No. The train wreck that is Washington DC is a perfect example of how God frustrates the designs of the crafty. No matter how much they try to blame the other side, they can't get anything done because they don't deserve to - they lied and cheated to get where they are and they are being thwarted. God is frustrating them by not allowing many of their wicked designs to come to fruition, and he is protecting the rest of us in the process.

However, there are much bigger things going on than just our politicians, as terrible as they are. So how do we know that even bigger picture is being frustrated? That is where it seems like evil is having its way - in the daily stories of violence, hatred, death, murder, terrible abuses, exploitation, oppression, slavery - the whole gamut of evil seems to be on full display. But, if you look under the radar, past the narrative that is being spun by the media and the "crafty," and seek out the small stories - there you can see that God in winning.

He always works this way, in small ways that are under the radar, but they end up toppling empires (look at Moses, Mary, and Jesus himself). Good people are working with the sick, the homeless, the forgotten, the immigrants, and refugees. Lawsuits are progressing through the courts, quietly, unheralded. Honest and good scientists and doctors are doing the necessary research to tell us the truth. Justice and truth are slowly working their way through the system. It may take a while - longer than we like, but it is happening.

So take heart - the schemes of the wily will be brought to an end, and it will be quick, to God at least. Meanwhile, the waiting is teaching the rest of us patience and trust in him.