Reflections: Leave a review, please?

Is it just me, or does anyone else find themselves inundated with requests to provide feedback, leave a review, etc.? Texts and emails start coming within hours or even minutes of purchasing a product or consuming a service, and even companies I’ve “unsubscribed” from somehow get me back on the list if I visit or purchase again. 

Recently, I was asked for feedback from a hotel at which I haven’t even completed my stay. (Yes, the website booking experience was okay, but really?) Fast food that tasted, well, like it usually tastes at that restaurant—I’ll complete your survey, but only for a REALLY good coupon. My homeowner’s insurance? (After that 2024 hail experience, you don’t want to know what I really think; I’m just making sure all is settled before we switch.) A stop at the local pharmacy for a prescription while doing errands? (Goodness, can I get my perishables in the fridge before you send three texts?) Online purchase of an appliance? (I’ve told you twice already, we’re waiting for someone to help install it.) 

One thing I will gladly give a positive review for, though, is God’s faithfulness. Over several decades of life, my ups and downs have helped me identify more and more with the writer of Ecclesiastes. After several chapters about the futility of many things people try to accomplish in life, he states, “Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty” (12:13, NLT). His experiences with wealth, work and wisdom led him to realize that God is in control, and we can count on it. 

The Apostle Paul, whose dramatic conversion led him to share the Gospel through good circumstances and bad, could confidently declare from prison, “. . . Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day” (2 Tim. 1:12, NIV). His encounters with God left no room for doubt. 

During my dad’s last months, I often played the piano in the nursing home’s dining room, where Dad and other residents gathered around to sing old favorite gospel songs and hymns. In their 80s and 90s, most could remember all the words! And their favorites were about God’s faithfulness and looking forward to eternity with Him: “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” “It Is Well with My Soul,” and “When We All Get to Heaven,” to name a few. One day, I felt inspired to share a newer worship song, “Goodness of God.” These people experienced the Great Depression and World War II, but when I sang the chorus, “All my life, You have been faithful,” several raised their hands in praise, exclaiming, “Oh, that’s true!” 

At the Voice of the Martyrs International Conference, I met Susanna, whose pastor husband, in a predominantly Muslim nation, mysteriously disappeared eight years ago. Rather than give up serving their small house church network, Susanna continued the ministry, and the network has grown. I and other attendees were moved to tears as she declared, “God has been faithful to meet my needs, even though I miss my husband terribly. And when I stand before the Righteous Judge at the end of the age, I want to hear Him say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’” 

I pray that, like Susanna, my “review” of God can somehow inspire others. But in the end, God’s review—that I’ve accepted Jesus’ provision for my salvation and served Him faithfully—is the only one that matters.