Is God Really on My Side?

My husband is a wild card when it comes to playing games with youth groups.  He has been known to switch back and forth to whichever team is needing a boost.  This flip-flopping is pretty obvious and appreciated in games like dodge ball, but it can be trickier in games that require stealth, such as capture the flag.  No one knows whether to tag him, run from him, or recruit him.  He is viewed with cautious suspicion until his current loyalties are made evident by his actions.  The students won’t come near him until their question is answered: is he really on our side?                 

Although we know God doesn’t shift, change, or flip-flop, our circumstances sometimes give us the illusion that He has done just that.  Then, the same question often sneaks into our hearts: is He really on my side?  Is He really with me and for me?  A posture of suspicion toward God makes believing His words and coming near to Him exponentially more difficult.  Not only that, but we find ourselves paralyzed – at a complete loss of what to do.    

The nation of Israel asked this question long ago.  As they wandered in the wilderness, they came to a place called Rephidim, according to God’s command.  One would think that a place with a name must be better than the wilderness, especially if God had specifically commanded them to go there.  However, Rephidim lacked one crucial necessity: water.  Have you ever been completely parched?  I remember feeling an urgent craving for water after spending part of a scorching summer day at the fairgrounds.  We talk a lot about being “hangry,” but I think that extreme thirst causes greater and faster changes to our disposition than hunger.  I have never experienced an equal to the frantic tunnel vision and rude desperation I felt that day.  The adults of Israel were not only feeling the effects of dehydration themselves, but they were legitimately concerned for their children and livestock.  From our perspective, they had every right to ask the question, “Is the LORD among us, or not?” (Ex. 17:7).  To them, the answer appeared to be no.  After all, their obedience to God is what landed them in this predicament.  They were so angry with Moses for taking them from Egypt just to die of thirst in the desert that they were borderline homicidal.  Their circumstances caused them to doubt God and His appointed leaders.

In their pain and fear, they completely forgot all that God had just done for them.  Were these not the same people who saw the mighty hand of the one true God as He sent plague after plague upon their Egyptian captors?  Were these not the ones whose families were spared on the night of Passover when all of Egypt grieved the death of their firstborns?  Were these not the ones who followed the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night?  Were these not the freed people who walked across the Red Sea on dry ground as the waters collapsed over Pharaoh’s armies behind them?  Were these not the same people who had already cried out for water once before and partaken of God’s provision as He made the bitter waters of Marah potable and then proceeded to lead them to the oasis of Elim?  Were these not the very same individuals who had complained of hunger and then woke to God’s abundant provision of quail and manna?  Of course He was on their side!  He had proven that fact again and again in ways that we can hardly even imagine! 

We look at all that they had seen and knew of God, and we are baffled that they could even ask the question.  Are we not the same?  Blinded by our own pain, fear, and circumstantial need, we forget all that God has done for us.  I know I am sure guilty of this.  Sometimes I get so caught up in the pain of infertility and the agony of loved ones who are fighting their own battles that I forget all of the times when I could so plainly see God’s loving hand in my life.  I forget about the wonderful childhood He blessed me with.  I forget about how He let me witness one of my best friends come to know Him.  I forget about how He held me the first time my heart was broken – and each time since then.  I forget how I have seen Him quench the chaos of the enemy in the hearts and minds of young children and teens engulfed in various cultures of darkness.  I forget how He took my train-wreck of a marriage and graciously put it back on track.  I forget all of the times I have heard His quiet voice speak to my heart.  I forget how He provided one house after another where we could keep our dogs.  I forget how He’s provided jobs, finances, friends, teachers, wisdom, and all that we could ever need in exactly the right time.  I forget how He’s called me.   

I forget how He bled for me.  How He took the penalty for my sin.  How He broke the power of sin and death in my life.  How He breathed into me physical and spiritual life.  How He has blessed me with every spiritual blessing.  Given me an inheritance.  Adopted me.  Given me value and purpose.  Saved me. 

Friends, He is on my side.  He is on your side.  He is with us and for us.  May we choose to remember and believe.    

“I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you” (Heb. 13:5b).

“If God is for us [and we know that He is], who is against us?” (Rom. 8:31b).

“I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:20b).

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Willing Masterpieces

     

Photo by Samuel Castro on Unsplash

   
      Artists are fascinating to watch.  For a while, their work doesn’t look very impressive.  Some strokes may seem misplaced, and the colors might look all wrong.  However, the more they work, the more the image begins to take form.  Sometimes, the artwork will get to a point where it still looks a little vague, but then the artist will do something simple – like adding a single stroke, turning on a back light, or flipping the canvas upside down – that changes everything.  Suddenly, the artist’s true talent and ultimate design are unveiled.  The audience is able to see what the artist had in mind all along.

       We are God’s masterpieces (Eph. 2:10), but we aren’t finished yet (Phil. 1:6).  Being a masterpiece in progress can be frustrating.  The strokes and colors that God adds to our lives might not be anything remotely like what we would have chosen.  When His choices don’t make sense to us, we wonder if we will end up like the big grayish-brown splotches that kids paint when they get too over-enthusiastic about mixing colors.  No one wants to be a grayish-brown splotch.

       In those times, we think that we know better.  Out of fear or pride, we try to take away the brush.  We want our will and our way in our time (Check out Pastor Eric’s message titled David Pt 4 from yesterday morning - it might not be posted until later this week).  Terrible messes result when we take matters into our own hands.  In Exodus 2, Moses saw the suffering of his people, and he took it upon himself to kill an Egyptian slave driver who was beating a fellow Hebrew.  His crime was revealed to Pharaoh, and he had to flee for his life.  Thankfully, God is very good at completing His ultimate design no matter what messes we manage to make.  God did eventually free the Israelites, and He even used Moses to do it, but it was in His will, His way, and His time.

       God calls us to willingly be His masterpieces – to bend our will and ways to His and wait for His time.  Some colors are dark, and some strokes are painful and confusing.  Godly character is not produced through ease.  However, we can trust that the Artist who paints the sunsets knows what He is doing, and that the end result will be good and beautiful when it is seen in its entirety.  Someday, we will be finished, and we will praise the Artist with a better and more complete understanding.  Until then, we praise Him and trust Him by faith even though we cannot yet see clearly.

Spring is Coming

       Spring is coming. 

       I started seeing the signs a few days ago.  The persistent mountain of snow that had become one with our front yard is finally gone.  The dogs are antsy with spring fever.  Little sprouts are stretching out of the earth after their long winter sleep.  The temperature is warm enough that I can open the windows to rejuvenate the house, and I don’t have to wear a coat when I go  outside!

       Normally, I don’t associate spring with breathing easy.  My allergies will soon start wreaking havoc, no doubt.  Even so, I feel like my heart and my spirit have taken a deep breath.  I’ve tried to pinpoint exactly what brought about this change.  Is it just the change in seasons?  Could it be the fact that my schedule has settled into a much more manageable pace?  Maybe the nutritional supplements and “panic pattern” adjustments that Dr. Dority is using to help out my overworked adrenal and pituitary glands (newsflash: stress is bad for you) are starting to have a more noticeable effect.  Perhaps it’s a result of being able to take the dogs for long walks with my husband again.  Of course, it could be a combination of all of those things.  I do know that ultimately it is due to the God who sees me. 

       He has wrapped His arms around me so many times lately.  One of those times was Saturday night when I took Nika outside.  While she was taking her sweet time, I caught a glimpse of the stars.  How long had it been since I looked at the stars – really looked at them?  When was the last time I got lost in the wonder of the vastness of our universe?  I welcomed the familiar and overwhelming feeling of being so frighteningly small.  In one sense, I felt like I could fall and be lost forever in the never-ending abyss of space.  On the other hand, I felt a great sense of peace in knowing that the God who made those countless stars and galaxies was holding me together.  Two quotes came to mind.  The first was from Psalm 19: “The heavens proclaim the glory of God.  The skies display his craftsmanship” (v. 1, NLT).  The second was a line from a song that my husband recently showed me: “If the stars were made to worship so will I.”  He is worthy.    

       As I stood there thinking about the verse and the song, He reminded me once again: I am not God.  I don’t have to try and do His job.  I am so small, and I see such a tiny fraction of the whole picture.  I can’t try to fix everything for myself or for everyone else.  He values me, and I don’t have to strive so hard.  I can trust Him, enjoy Him, worship Him, and find hope in Him.  There is freedom to be found in letting God be God and refusing to make an idol of self. 

       God is with us in all the little moments.  Even when we are letting the dog out to do her business.  He loves us and desires our hearts.  The ultimate expression of that love was in the death of His Son, and He continues to show us His love each and every day if we are willing to see it.  He sees us in the winter and He restores to us the hope and life of spring.    

       Spring is coming.   


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P.S.  "I Am Seen" is the new name for the blog!  "Hope Dawns" won the poll, but that URL was already taken.  I thought I had tested them all, but apparently I missed that one somehow.  I'm planning on starting the process of changing everything over on Saturday, March 17.  I will do my best to re-direct old links to the new URL!  Thanks for all your input!