Something struck me the other day. It wasn’t necessarily a brand new thought for me, maybe just a more organized (did I just use the word organized for something in my head?) or specific version of an old understanding.
Caves and lion’s dens and burning bushes and floods and stormy waters and prison cells and steep mountains and graves and leper colonies.
What do all of these, and so many more, have in common?
They are all places where God revealed Himself. Difficult, sometimes horrible places where God made His presence so obvious that it couldn’t be missed by us humans who so easily forget that He will “never leave or forsake” us. All of the above list are situations where it would be natural to think that God was somewhere else other than right in the middle of it all.
Isn’t it amazing that the God of the entire universe, the supreme and reigning King of heaven, Who wanted for nothing because He could create anything, desired a relationship with us so fiercely that He willingly put Himself in those situations with mankind? Love. THAT is the power and driving force behind His entry into the realm of the broken world we live in.
But this wasn’t just something that God of the Old Testament and Jesus of the New Testament did. It’s something the two of them are still in the business of doing today. From the outside our situations might look a little different – The cave looks like discouragement, depression. The lion’s den resembles fear and pain. The stormy waters are difficult situations or relationships. Floods are circumstances beyond our control. Prison cells are made up of our addictions. Mountains, the seemingly impossible. Graves, the death of someone or something important to us. Leper colonies take on the form of the ugly, untouchable parts of our lives that no one wants to deal with.
He did it then and He does it now. He is Here. He is THERE. He hasn’t left because the situation has changed or gotten more difficult or ugly. And He hasn’t come alone. He has brought with Him PURPOSE. A meaning for each and every circumstance we find ourselves in. Learning, growth, deeper understanding and faith. A more intimate relationship with Him. Bigger compassion for others and humility of heart. And ultimately, stories to tell of His presence in and through that circumstance.
Know His presence today. Live in it with every breath and thought. It changes everything…
Hebrews 13:5 – “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Malachi 3:6 – “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you…are not consumed.”
Isaiah 43:2 – When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
