Well, I’m pretty sure you haven’t missed it. The outside world is a pretty intense place right now.
For the past few years, it seems I have lived my life by Psalm 139. Check it out if you haven’t read it. There’s an immense comfort in knowing God knew everything that was coming before you were ever born. When I look back on my life, particularly the times that have taxed me and brought me to the end of myself, what I see is how God made a way. So it’s not just that God knows what’s coming, it’s that He has already prepared a path through that place. Even this. Even coronavirus. Even the closer medical issues happening in my family in the middle of a worldwide medical crisis. Even whatever it is you are going through.
I went back to Psalm 139 today and started looking at it again. This is where I find my comfort. So how about we go through a few different verses and look at what they might mean for us today? We won’t go in order. But it seems like a good thing to realize right now, in the middle of uncertainty and anxiety and just plain weird, that God is still in control.
So much is here to see. It doesn’t matter where we are. At home, somewhere away from home, with our family or alone… God is there. In the midst of sin… God is there, waiting for us to turn to Him. In the midst of fear… God is there, waiting for us to turn to Him. In the midst of a complete loss of control… God is there, waiting for us to turn to Him. If He feels far away, that’s a lie straight from the enemy. Right here is the promise that God is right here. Right there. Right where you are.
Even better? Darkness isn’t dark to Him. When it all seems bleak and we can’t see what’s coming, He does. It’s not a surprise to Him. It doesn’t startle Him. He’s not wringing His hands in heaven wondering what to do next. He sees it all.
Know what that means? We don’t need to know everything. One of my precious students texted me last night and said, “I have never wanted to badly to be able to see the future.” My initial response was, “Me, too.” But then God dropped Psalm 139 on me yet again. He already sees it. It’s already taken care of. He’s already made a way in the darkness. A stream in the desert. If we stop and take some time to listen and look, I’ll bet we begin to see even now where He is working. Sometimes it’s in the greater world. Sometimes it’s in our living room. And sometimes it’s right inside of us. But never doubt, He is working all over the place, in every inch of this, even when it seems like the darkness is winning.
I’m about to go for a walk around my dad’s neighborhood–maintaining distance from everyone, of course–and I’ll be praying for you. Praying that if it feels like you’re in the dark, if you’re scared or anxious or wondering what comes next, that God will show you that He is right beside you, everywhere you are, even if it feels dark.
There is no darkness to God. Only glorious light.
-JB
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