Lord, Where Are You?
“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I . . . make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I . . . settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” (Psalm 139)
Sometimes God seems as distant as the furthest star and we are left alone. Terribly, painfully alone.
Who would expect us to pray? What’s the use? Why read Scripture? It might as well be written in a foreign language. And don’t tell me about God’s love – if He loved me I wouldn’t feel this way.
We make a serious, and sometimes deadly mistake to elevate our feelings above God’s promises. Doing so implies our emotions are more faithful and honest than God.
How absurd.
Where can we go from God’s Spirit? The answer to the Psalmist’s rhetorical question is: Nowhere. God’s Spirit is in all places, at all times and in all situations. He is with us when we grope in the darkness of our soul. He is at our side when we're far from loved ones. He moves close when loneliness gnaws at our spirit and heartache rips at our faith.
He sees it all. He knows it all. Our darkness is as light to Him as our joy.
The apostle Paul might have been thinking of this Psalm when he wrote to the Romans (chapter 8): What shall separate us from God’s love? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or sword? . . . . Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is Christ Jesus our Lord.
Feelings wax and wan like the surf of the sea driven by the wind. But God’s promises are as stable and as sure as, well, as God Himself. No one who comes to Him is ever, ever turned away.
“Lord, help me in my unbelief. Place your hand on me and draw my heart to yours. I want to trust you, despite my circumstances. Forgive my anger toward you, my disappointment and my stubbornness. Create in me a clean heart, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. For the sake of Jesus, I pray. Amen.”
Rich
rmaffeo@comcast.net
Sometimes God seems as distant as the furthest star and we are left alone. Terribly, painfully alone.
Who would expect us to pray? What’s the use? Why read Scripture? It might as well be written in a foreign language. And don’t tell me about God’s love – if He loved me I wouldn’t feel this way.
We make a serious, and sometimes deadly mistake to elevate our feelings above God’s promises. Doing so implies our emotions are more faithful and honest than God.
How absurd.
Where can we go from God’s Spirit? The answer to the Psalmist’s rhetorical question is: Nowhere. God’s Spirit is in all places, at all times and in all situations. He is with us when we grope in the darkness of our soul. He is at our side when we're far from loved ones. He moves close when loneliness gnaws at our spirit and heartache rips at our faith.
He sees it all. He knows it all. Our darkness is as light to Him as our joy.
The apostle Paul might have been thinking of this Psalm when he wrote to the Romans (chapter 8): What shall separate us from God’s love? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or sword? . . . . Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is Christ Jesus our Lord.
Feelings wax and wan like the surf of the sea driven by the wind. But God’s promises are as stable and as sure as, well, as God Himself. No one who comes to Him is ever, ever turned away.
“Lord, help me in my unbelief. Place your hand on me and draw my heart to yours. I want to trust you, despite my circumstances. Forgive my anger toward you, my disappointment and my stubbornness. Create in me a clean heart, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. For the sake of Jesus, I pray. Amen.”
Rich
rmaffeo@comcast.net
posted by rich at
1:24 PM
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