Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
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Sticking with It…
There is something inspiring about sea vegetation and trees which grow and flourish in severe, hostile terrain. Tree roots intertwine and go deep between barnacled rocks where sea weed tenaciously anchor. So, when gales blow, these plants stand strong and the algae hold fast; they don’t tumble down or wash away in stormy seas.
Some people are like that. They remain steady in life’s challenges. Seeing beyond the storms, they take each day as a gift and live with joy in spite of suffering or persecution. Other people are overcome with crippling anxiety in the uncertainties of economic, physical, emotional, or spiritual stress.
Spiritual endurance is a virtue which is not always an easy choice, but it is a choice, a determination to stay the course, to finish the race, to believe in God’s goodness and in some cases to cling to Truth in spite of crazy distortions, blatant untruths, or unrelenting difficulties when doubts, delusions, or bitterness creep in.
Trusting in God’s redemptive plan and being obedient to divine spiritual directives are as essential for healthy spiritual lives today as they were thousands of years ago. Scripture’s solution for weak, powerless faith is encapsulated in several distinctive, historical God-given directives conveyed to the Israelites on multiple occasions to keep them focused on following His divine plan as they moved into the Promised Land: “Do not turn to right or left” and “Remember” and “Be strong and courageous.”
Although God has never promised believers a stress free, trauma free life in this confused and broken world, He has always promised that His providential plans are good, that He is present and protective during adversity, that there is meaning and purpose even to suffering and persecution, and that there is eternal reward for faith (Isaiah 43:2;Romans 8: 28-29;John 3:16; Hebrews 11:6).
The Biblical heroes mentioned in Hebrews 11 faced severe faith challenges including loss, deprivation, fear, grief, doubt, torture, persecution, and even death. In the bleakest of possible outcomes, their faith held firm because they believed God. They rested in His love, goodness, and redeeming power, and submitted to the values and ways that He instructed even when there was no way to assess future outcomes apart from God’s promises. Their end goals were eternal in nature….
Just as God gave enough manna each day to the Israelities in the wilderness, He promises enough strength and courage to deal with difficulties of each of our days. Hear wisdom from the Biblical book of Proverbs: “My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him,and he will make straight your paths.(Proverbs 3:5-6)
Christ showed us the way through the whole gamut of life’s broken experiences: setbacks, adversity, misunderstanding, belittlement, grief, loss, betrayal, temptation, suffering, and death. He willingly and joyfully endured because he submitted to the divine goodness, authority, and will of his Father whom he trusted to give sufficient courage, strength, and ability to meet the challenges of one day at a time. He taught us to pray for daily needs, to be delivered from evil, to be forgiven for our transgressions, and to not be anxious about life’s tomorrows. He said that if one prioritized and sought first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things ( life’s necessities) will be added to you (Matthew 6).
The Apostle Paul learned that truth as he struggled with God over his “ thorn in the flesh” which was never healed. He discovered that reliance upon God’s promises and power kept Him humble and honored God. In his weakness He lived with divine strength. God’s “grace was sufficient” and His power was made perfect in Paul’s weakness. That is the strength found in “abiding” in Christ.
During a difficult time, our six year old son taught me that “abiding” lesson. While in the hospital recovering from complications of leukemia treatment, he decided to send a tape recorded message to his primary school class. In a sweet, child-like voice, he sang this (at that time) contemporary chorus: “One step more… One step more… Give me faith for one step more…One step more my Savior, One step more… only one step more…When the way is weary and the night is dark and dreary, never fear; He is near. Dark and Drear may be the way, but I hear my savior say, “Follow me, follow me.” One step more… One step more… give me faith for one step more…One step more my Savior, One step more… only One step more…
There it was! The answer! Spiritual endurance means following Christ along the difficult path of trusting, obeying, and resting in God’s goodness, steadfast love and faithfulness one day, one step, at a time.
The Ducklings Speak…
These ducklings speak a visual parable of divine providence. They highlight a truth which King David vividly and beautifully captured in the lyrics of the 139th Psalm. God’s children are constantly “hemmed in behind and before” by God’s omniscience, presence, care, and protection.
Hear David sing the song:
“Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down. and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.”
“You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”
“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning. and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 139:1-10).
This wonderful Psalm overflows with encouragement by offering assurance, comfort, and ultimate hope in the awesome, ever-present God, who guides and cares for His trusting children.
Centuries after this Psalm was written, its truths were wonderfully revealed in a person. Christ’s life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection were lovingly and joyfully endured for our redemption, the ultimate statement of God’s love and care and promised hope.
Passing Ships
In his “Theologians Tales,” Henry W. Longfellow used darkness as a metaphor to highlight the difficulty we have connecting with each other and to emphasize the personal isolation prevalent in this vastly populated world:
“Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,
Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,
Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.
Although we live in families, neighborhoods, and communities and associate with one another in schools, workplaces, organizations, synagogues, and churches and are connected as citizens of this world to the larger community of nations, our relationships are predominately casual. And we are lonely! We have become Longfellow’s “Ships that pass in the night.”
There is a strange incongruity in being innately relational beings who long for connection but fear deep intimacy. We possess the ability to love deeply and sacrificially, to be understanding and compassionate and generous, to support and help each other, to know right and wrong, to expect justice but also practice forgiveness, to show mercy and grace, but we fall short! We try, but we fail. The reasons are multifactorial.
The realities of time and space bring fleeting relationships and incidental encounters. Social status, ethnicity, race, individuality, quirky personalities, lifestyles, opinions, values, politics and religions create distance. Dual incomes, busy lives, attention demanding iPhones, and social media complicate and distract from relationships. Experiences drive us to build protective emotional and physical boundaries. Distrust, “fear of man”, and insecurities keep us awkward and guarded. However, there is a deeper underlying challenge. Centuries ago, God revealed an undeniable truth about a real and basic problem. “Every intention of the thoughts of (man’s) heart is only evil continually” and “The intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 6:5;8:21).
We have a heart issue. We are incapable of perfection and achieving self redemption and are separated by our brokenness. Our spirits are willful and disordered, our minds filled with impure attitudes and motives. Self centeredness and lack of grace and humility bring disorder and darkness to our world. Unfortunately, performing rituals, attending church or synagogue, praying, being generous, helping our neighbors, and giving to the poor, or even taking religious practices to the point of radical actions do not cleanse our deceitful hearts or inspire a favorable standing in God’s sight. We may be unlike in many ways, but we all share the humbling need for redemption. Our souls need the touch of divine love.
Scripture’s great message is that the Creator loves His fallen creation, has done all that is necessary to redeem it through Christ, and at some point will restore it to its original glory. We cannot make God love us more than He already does! Salvation is not earned but is a divine provision. “It is not by works that we have done but by his mercy he saves us” (Titus 3:5). Christ’s redemptive work on our behalf proved the amazing perfection of God’s unimaginable love. The cross is where mercy and justice meet to provide salvation for all who seek him.
New England poet and Quaker, John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), wrote a poem from which some of the verses became the hymn “Dear Lord and Father of mankind.” The song addresses our common need for repentance, trusting belief in, submission to, and quiet waiting on the Lord, and the first verse speaks to those needs.
Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
forgive our foolish ways!
Reclothe us in our rightful mind;
in purer lives Thy service find,
in deeper rev’rence, praise.
We share life together. Understanding and trusting what Christ has done should give new meaning, purpose, grace, and spirit to relationships. Hostilities, barriers, and divisions have been abolished by divine grace, mercy, and love. If Whittier’s prayerful song becomes ours and we walk as Jesus did, there will be fewer of Longfellow’s ships passing in the night.
A Good Book
The Good Book
If you enjoy reading, you undoubtedly prefer a “good” read, not necessarily a best seller but one engaging or informative enough to finish and to share with a friend or interesting enough to search for other books by the same author.
The Bible “fits that bill.” Even though it is a compilation of books and letters filled with history, poetry, stories, parables, and theology and was written by 40 different authors over many centuries, it follows an amazingly cohesive, central theme of God’s love, justice, and providential interaction with mankind. Its ancient yet astonishing contemporary message is applicable to all people and societies of all times because it addresses humanity’s triumphs, failures and spiritual needs. Adhering to its profound wisdom leads to healthy, productive living. It’s Good News is powerful enough to bring redemption and confidence in an eternal life to all who will receive it.
Psalm 19 is an inspiring segue into this amazing Book. In eleven verses, it espouses a worldview centered on God as humanity’s sovereign Creator and loving Redeemer and begins with recognition and praise for God’s greatness, His love, and His provision for our souls. It proclaims that God’s presence and power are gloriously evident everywhere in creation’s design, governing principles, and purpose. Every human community and heart language can see how wonderfully ordered and powerfully sustained life is and can be drawn to the awesomeness of God.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork…
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
The Psalmist notes that God governs the moral/spiritual world through divinely inspired principles which are pure, right, unchanging, and reliable and therefore innately good for us. This Psalm delights in the beauty and perfection of God’s powerful instructions. They are insightful, wholesome guides which “revive the soul,” “make wise the simple,” “bring joy to the heart” and “songs to the soul,” “enlighten the eyes,” and “endure forever.” These valued, convicting, encouraging, principles are to be desired above all else including “much fine gold.” They bring blessings to life and praise to one’s lips because they are “true” and “righteous.” Adhering to these principles keeps one from error, folly, and the domination of sinful living as the Psalmist expressed: “Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me!…Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression.”
Man’s word lacks omniscience and is tainted by bias, but God’s revealed Word is “like fire…and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29) The New Testament claims that it splits the hardest of hearts. It “is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” and “is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” (Hebrews 4:12; 2 Timothy 3:16)
Just as God’s words created the world and the creatures in it, they create His image in us when heeded. Scripture’s revelations have proven to be incredibly powerful, authoritative, and transformative. That is an exciting possibility for all of us because we all need the joyful changes that forgiveness, redemption, and hope bring to our souls.
Is it any wonder that this book is the best seller of all time, selling 19 to 20 million copies annually?
For anybody reading the Bible for the first time, the New Testament books of Mark and John are a great starting point because they focus on the person and teachings of Christ, who is Scripture’s central figure and the prototype for who we are created to be.
Has Easter Dawned?
The miracle of creation’s first light emerges every morning in a blend of beauty and mystery. The lifting mists slowly unveil the day’s reality. So it was on Resurrection morning for Jesus’ disciples. Comprehension of the enigma and meaning of the man who had died nailed to a Roman cross between two scoundrels slowly began to emerge as his followers pondered an empty tomb at dawn’s light.
Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection climaxed three exhausting years of trudging around Israel while teaching profound truths and performing endless miracles which demonstrated his power over nature, the spirit world, disease, and human brokenness. Yet, he had been judged and rejected by many because of his place of origin, heritage, lack of formal religious education, his socioeconomic status, his friends and associates, his countercultural beliefs, and the assumed threat he was to the religious rulers. Nevertheless, he had lived resolutely with divine love and purpose. No fault could be found in him despite having been tried and opposed by his own humanity, by Israel’s political-religious hierarchy, and by dark forces using all manner of evil against him –temptations, racism, bias, intolerance, misunderstanding, unbelief, treason, and jealousy over his power with the masses.
His inevitable crucifixion seemed a joyful victory for the opposition but a disastrous blow to his followers. Even so, he was not defeated. His true identity and purposes continued to unfold. Resurrection’s enlightening was just hours away from the darkness enshrouding his death. Those dark hours before resurrection day’s dawn were disorienting. His followers had been severely traumatized by the unjustifiable mockery, brutalization, humiliation, and murder of their dear friend, beloved leader, and mentor, the one they had confidently believed would be the salvation of Israel. His death dashed their personal dreams, their hopes for Israel, and put them in jeopardy. Imagine their shock, deep sadness, and despair! Fear, anger, anxiety, guilt and shame swirled through their conversations while that horrific drama played over and over in their heads. They mourned their friend. There was no way forward. There was no replacement for Jesus. No one had his power and vision. There would be no recovery. Their world was foreboding, pointless…
As they huddled together in fear and disbelief, their grieving minds were too fogged to remember or understand or perhaps even believe what Jesus had told them when he said “…you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. …” (John 16:19-24)
On Resurrection morning, bewilderment cautiously gave way with the angelic assurance that Jesus had risen “as he said he would.” Then they actually saw Jesus! Some at once. Some later. Joy kicked in. He was alive! They were getting some clarity. The amazing implications of Christ’s emergence from death’s cold, dark grip unveiled astonishing realities. The mist was indeed lifting! Death had been defeated! God’s Kingdom was not temporal but eternal! Humanity had hope! What a reversal a few hours made! Resurrection morning had come! He had risen from the dead! Truth was fully revealed.
Is Easter just a story? Has Easter dawned for us? Has it impacted us?
As an atheist, C. S. Lewis experienced what he called “willful blindness.” He had made no robust attempt to discover the truth about Christ. Often, this callous disregard or conscious avoidance of Christ occurs because Christianity is misunderstood. Christianity is all about God’s justice and Christ’s love and is not about people, institutions, or restrictions. Christ paid the price for our sins and offers to free us from the condemnation that we deserve because of our sinful natures. There is only one condition for that freedom! Belief. (Acts 16:31) (Romans 10:9-10)
Easter makes a mindboggling statement. It confirms the Gospel. Christ’s redemptive act at the cross is truly the necessary, gracious, merciful, remedy for mankind’s sinful nature, and his trumphant ressurection verifies his divinity and the eternal existence of man’s soul. Trusting Christ is not only God’s plan for spiritual renewal and purpose during this earthly journey but is our assurance that we will live with Him even when we die.
Could there be any more perfect or more hope-filled plan for when we exchange mortality for immortality?
A Safe Place
“Quietly Waiting for Spring“
When weariness or overwhelming urgencies chip away at joy, we need a “go to” plan, somewhere to pause the struggle, a temporary escape from busyness, stress, turbulent times, difficult relationships, or family chaos. Retreating to a good book, resting in a favorite chair, listening to special music, or just a finding a quiet space may help ease one’s mind and inner turmoil.
My “place” is a childhood memory of summer evenings when my four siblings were in bed drowsing off to sleep after an exhausting day of fun and play. While the house was quiet, I would sit by my small, open bedroom window listening to the the sounds of a waning summer day: leaves rustling in the silver oak tree as a light breeze whispered by, a hermit thrush’s sweet song interspersed with the twilight call of a whip-o-will in the pine grove, and a Bob-o-link bob-o-linking in the field between the house and the grove. The world was calm and ordered. I was at peace. Responsibility and worries were my parents’ problems and rarely touched me then. In those moments, a beautiful awareness of belonging stirred within me. Those remembrances of innocent moments still calm me to sleep many years later.
Some of us are plagued by stress filled or traumatizing experiences and have difficulty finding cherished moments to rest our minds, bodies, and souls. Moving beyond loss, abuse, victimization, anger, guilt, and shame takes time and hard soul searching work. The proper place for negative memories and hurts is where they no longer have control over emotions and behaviors. Sorting them out may require professional help, but scripture encourages us to look to the love and strength of Jesus, who invites us, “Come to me… learn from me…and you will find rest for your souls…” (Matt 11:28-29).
That is a credible offer. In spite of his stress filled life, Jesus humbly, willingly, and without complaint embraced loss, poverty, grief, temptation, hardship, betrayal, and injustice as he showed us how to live by the power and grace of God. The author of Hebrews exhorted his readers to “Consider (Jesus) who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted (Hebrews 12:2-3).” His unmitigated love for his Father and for humanity enabled him to overcome, persevere, and fulfill his redemptive work at the cross as the only blameless sacrifice and perfect payment for our sins.
One Old Testament name for God was Deliverer. The Psalmist sang, “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust” (Psalm 18:2). Jesus carried that divine role into New Testament times. He declared, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). He changed the lives of the troubled and diseased, the disenfranchised, sinners, and even the dead. His ultimate show of power was a glorious resurrection by which he guaranteed eternal hope for those who would accept his redemptive gift with genuine repentance and trust.
The Psalmist also saw God’s deliverance as cause for celebration: “You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance “ (Psalm 32:7). Christ is our divine Protector. If he loved us enough to enter humanity to deliver us from evil influences and spiritual oppressions by meeting our redemptive need, lifting our spiritual burdens, and showing us a better way, we can confidently cast our fears, inadequacies, guilt, shame, past indiscretions, and failures into a relationship with him. He seeks, loves and forgives without judgment or condemnation and has promised that his spirit would be with those who trust him. He is a refuge for all who heed and is worthy of “shouts of deliverance.”
His invitation to “rest” is really an invitation to “abide” in him, to reflect upon him, to center life around him, to draw strength from him, and to move forward with confidence in God’s goodness and protective love. He is a safe place.
Waiting Confidently
Sitting alone on a beautiful beach in the fog might seem disheartening, particularly if one is on vacation hoping for winter warmth on a sunny, southern beach. Yet, there is hope! The weather forecast is confidently predicting that the fog will clear. It is a matter of patiently waiting. The sun will shine!
The dictionary defines hope as “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” Hope energizes and motivates! Even if it is fragile and wishful, life would lose meaning without it. However, “wishful hope” is conditional upon unreliable outcomes. Although it may lead to happiness and gratitude, it may also result in disappointment, lonliness, despair, despondency, being overwhelmed, giving up, and suicide. In the words of Scottish poet Robert Burns, “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men / Gang aft agley (often go awry).”
In contrast, biblical hope is different and substantive. It is a confidence, an assurance, a certainty based on God’s character, His promises, and His principles for living. This hope gives meaning to the present and a confident anticipation for an eternal future. The Apostle Paul addressed waiting expectantly and patiently when he wrote about the promises of redemption and the future restoration of creation: “For in this hope we were saved…we wait for it with patience.” (Romans 8:24-25)
Faith empowers believers to deal optimistically, courageously, and with assurance that all life’s circumstances are purposeful regardless of how murky or mysterious or baffling they may be. For the Christian believer, there is a confident expectation of an eternal future. Thankfully, this hope rests in the person and work of Christ not in one’s personal goodness or good deeds which are inconsistent at best. His sacrificial death paid the price for humanity’s sinfulness and restores any person to God through their trust in his atoning mercy and grace. He promises his presence with us always, and his resurrection guarantees a future beyond the grave.
Those of faith may wait in difficult circumstances, but they can do so with the certainty that God is present and that the sun is already shining on their future.
Beneath the Threatening Clouds
The gathering clouds.overtaking this lone barn are reminders that we are vulnerable to unexpected physical, emotional, and spiritual storms which sweep through our lives overwhelming bright moments, tearing at our spirits, and darkening our souls. However, God has given us Jesus as an example to show the way through these troubles and to redeem them. “The Message, ” a Bible paraphrase, encourages us to
“Keep (our) eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it.”
The rest of that paraphrase explains how he did it. Jesus never lost sight of his Father’s purposes in spite of great opposition and hostility towards him; he moved beyond temptations and rejections and past the shameful humiliation and suffering of the cross to a glorious resurrection and exhilarating finish with God. He was able to tolerate everything along this journey because he trusted his Father. (Hebrews 12:2)
We experience many blessings but also significant, unwanted afflictions. Severe challenges may be brought to us through no fault of our own, but they are frequently caused by our indiscretions, weaknesses, imprudence, miscalculations, or lack of insight and foresight. Even so, believers in God are confident that He has a hand in all of life, that He can and will bring good from devastation, that He will provide peace and comfort and hope in moments of difficulties, that He has promised not to forsake His own and will not allow the fires and deep waters of life to consume or to drown them, that adversity will mature minds and spirits where there is willingness to learn, and that He gives purpose to life’s experiences
Jesus showed us the truth of that reality. He prayerfully sought His Father’s will and walked purposefully with determination and unwavering trust through exhausting emotional, physical, and spiritual trials. Since believers share similar life experiences as Jesus did, they are reminded that they are “God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for (them) to do ( Ephesians 2:10). Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection give the confidences of faith: that God unquestionably loves all peoples, that life is more about God’s purposes for us than about ours, that Jesus’ sacrifice on humanity’s behalf paid our sin debt, that he is present, and that trusting in his redemptive power and provision restores us to God and eternal life with Him (John 3:16).
The following poem/ prayer expresses the need to keep Jesus at the center of our thinking and of doing life with God.
“When distant clouds threaten the lingering sun, what will the day have been when done? Bright with gladness? Or sad with brokenness and madness? If the storm descends, I will profess what You have deemed is best. Though my path be difficult and steep with unexpected waters dark and deep, Your hand reaches beyond what I can see while in loving goodness You teach what I should be. When rains and winds block the sun and Your sovereign brush paints colors from which I want to run, my hope is always Jesus, who brings your mercy, grace and love, Almighty, all- knowing God above.” (Anonymous)
Whether we are living beneath sunshine or clouds, God providentially works to redeem, heal, comfort, guide, transform, and draw us to Himself if we trust Him to do so.
Water, Water Everywhere but Still Thirsty!
For reasons now lost to me, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel T. Coleridge was required reading when I was in school. It is a hauntingly weird poem about an old mariner and his crew who are becalmed, parched, and dying while surrounded by sea water. They bemoan: “Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink.”
This beautiful sphere’s surface with its huge oceans, major rivers, and innumerable lakes is 71percent water, and the human body is approximately 61percent water. In spite of those amazing statistics, water essential for maintaining human life is not always available. Arid lands exist with insufficient drinking water to support their populations, and weather patterns produce periodic droughts that are deadly. Furthermore, water is often contaminated and unsafe to drink.
Even if living where there is an adequate water supply, we can still have a different but fatal, unquenched thirst. We need to be valued, loved, and accepted. Without those we suffer some degree of emotional and spiritual death. So, we struggle to satisfy this thirst through relationships, professional and intellectual endeavors, talents, material things, substances, and certain behaviors. But there is a nagging emptiness; any relief we may experience is unsustained.
The Psalmist expressed this human need in a beautiful song: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God” (Psalm 42:1). Christ addressed a solution for this soul-craving by claiming to be the source of “living water.” He said that drinking well water would only temporarily quench thirst, but whoever drinks the water that he gives will never be thirsty but have eternal life. (John 4: 10-14)
By believing in Christ’s sacrificial, redemptive act on our behalf, we are promised an unending supply of living water to meet the needs and nurture the life we are meant to possess: forgiveness for moral failures, redemption with no condemnation, restoration to God and rest for our weary souls, the presence and empowering of his Spirit, comfort within trials, peace beyond understanding, security in God’s saving power, and eternal life.
Furthermore, Jesus said, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink!” (John 7:37-38) “Anyone” is everyone; his is an all inclusive offer for redemption and restoration to God, who is the One who satisfies the deep longings of the soul. Saint Augustine understood this to be the case when he prayed, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you”(Confessions).
The View From Above…
Recently while flying at 30 thousand feet and viewing the vast, changing landscape below, the question crossed my mind as to whether I was closer to God at that altitude. After all, a number of Bible accounts tell about God’s mountain top revelations. However, the descriptives of being “closer to” or “further from” God speak to relationship rather than to physical proximity or awareness. A better question might be is God close, or can I be close to God?
Most, if not all of us, have been, or perhaps are now in a situation where God didn’t or doesn’t seem to show up. Grief? Loss? Addiction? Relationship chaos? Abandonment or betrayal? Financial stress? Errant children? Suffering some injustice? Illness? Or some difficult, lonely situation in which there was no sense of God’s presence? Consider Jacob, who exclaimed as he awoke to the fact that God was dealing with him in his struggling, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it” (Genesis 28:16). King David realized that he could never be free from God’s presence when he questioned, “Where can I go from your Spirit?” (Psalm 139)
Not everyone believes in God. However, reality is not dependent upon feelings or belief. Reality is what is true. Scripture clearly declares that God is present whether or not we believe or seek Him. Even though we may be unaware of Him, He is aware of us. ” God looks at the heart” (1Samuel 16:7). Nothing could be more personal than that!
Our unfamiliarity with God may be because our opportunities, resources, and physical and intellectual abilities enable us to meet our goals and material needs. The failure to recognize that God gives us “our daily bread,” results in the misunderstanding that we are not dependent upon His grace. Conversely, we are not invincible. We may have unfulfilled expectations and needs in which we believe a good and just God would intervene but hasn’t. Or we may fail to seek Him in a world which distracts from and even denies our fundamental reasons to live. Instead of enjoying life and God as part of His glorious creation, we follow appealing trends, fads, “enlightened” but misguided ideas, confusing theories, and distorted pleasures which exclude God. Therefore, we miss the point. We think life is all about us, but Scripture reminds us that we are created in God’s image and that the whole of God’s creation declares His glory (Psalm 19; Roman’s 1:18). We are meant to display God’s glory until the day all creation is restored and justice and goodness prevail. For now, God is working everywhere to redeem us and our circumstances.
Our poorly conceived ideas result from a disordered human spirit. We suffer from brokenness and generational failures to live and convey moral truth and godly principles. For proof of spiritual darkness, we need only to turn on the news or look at ourselves! But more important than our sin is God’s grace. We enter this world imperfect, self-absorbed, and struggling for individual identity which will never be complete apart from a relationship with our Creator who loves us enough to show Himself in the mysteries and majesty of His creation, speak to us through His Word, and reveal Himself in the moral Law and in the person and death of Christ. Entering humanity as Emmanuel, “God with us,” Christ has shown us our spiritual need while mercifully and lovingly paying the penalty for our sins so we could be healed and restored to a relationship with God. He has promised that his Spirit will never leave or forsake believers. (1Corinthians 3:16; John 14:.16-17).
God meets us wherever we are. When we look for him, He is there. King David knew that as he cried out in his brokenness, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crused in spirit (Psalm34:18).” Happily, being close to God doesn’t require flying high or climbing to great heights or doing great things to earn His favor. He will be found and will dwell with those who believe Him, seek Him, and welcome Christ. And as the old hymn proclaims, regardless of our spiritual state “He is Only a Prayer Away.”
Sweet Words from Maine 