When we face a tough problem, we may pray to God for help in getting rid of that problem. And if we don’t get any help, we may wonder, “Where is God?”

To understand how God helps, consider an example. Suppose we are walking through a desert and are feeling as if we are dying of thirst. If we asked someone to suddenly change the desert to an oasis, they are unlikely to be able to do that. 

Though God is omnipotent, he doesn’t usually change the world’s problem-prone nature; instead, he helps us change our capacity to face those problems. He is capable of giving us extraordinary amounts of non-material strength. As long as we are fixated on his removing the problem, we blind ourselves to the strength he is ever-ready to offer. 

Though he can and does sometimes remove particular problems, he knows that we all have to eventually confront the reality that life is beset with problems. If we are to even survive, leave alone thrive, we need to become strong enough to endure such problems. That’s the opportunity he provides us when we are faced with situations wherein we can do nothing but seek inner strength. And he gives us that strength when we stay connected with him as the Bhagavad-gita (18.58) assures. 

When we discover that by God’s grace, we can become stronger than what we thought we were, that discovery is far more empowering than his miraculously removing the problem. Thus do we realize that God was helping us even when we felt that he wasn’t helping us.

One-sentence summary:

Even if God doesn’t take us out of problems, he will take us through those problems.

Think it over:

  • When seeking God’s help, how might we blind ourselves? 
  • When we seek God’s help amid problems, why doesn’t he just remove those problems?
  • Recollect any difficult situation when you discovered inner strength you didn’t know you had. How can you see God’s hand in that situation? 

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18.58: If you become conscious of Me, you will pass over all the obstacles of conditioned life by My grace. If, however, you do not work in such consciousness but act through false ego, not hearing Me, you will be lost.