Hello Beloved,
The line keeps coming into my mind: “We take God out of the equation.”
I have had situations in my life that have seemed overwhelming. Relationships. Work. Physical ailments. Mental ailments. Profound loss. I know some of you have been through similar and even worse. They were like dark parts of the journey and I didn’t know if I could get through them. Have you been through this? Have things seemed overwhelming to you?
I cried. I prayed. I hoped for these things to lift, be fixed, heal, pass by, be done, be made right. But I don’t know that I ever included God in the equation. (Situation, circumstance.) And because of that, I couldn’t see things correctly. My eyes were closed to the reality of the situation. God was in all those things, but I couldn’t see it. So I fretted. I stressed. I lost sleep. I wondered if I would ever come out on the other side and if so, would I be ok. I couldn’t see the truth.
To see God in every situation is to see the Holy Creator of ALL things, the One Who set the stars in their places, the One Who sees each sparrow fall, the One Who is completely capable of doing more than we could ever ask or think, the One Who knows us and loves us eternally, unconditionally, and without measure….……..in the situation. All of a sudden, what we’re dealing with doesn’t seem like that big of a deal after all. God has us. God has our family member. God has this relationship. God has me in this job for a reason. God knows my ailment and He is using it for good and a purpose. God is with me in my loss. God is ALL in ALL and that means in all that that I go through for all my days. Nothing gets past Him. Nothing slips out of His hand. What a relief!
There is a story in the Old Testament, in the book of 2nd Kings. It is about the prophet Elisha and his servant. The King of Syria was super angry with Elisha. So he had scouts go and find out where Elisha was so that he could go and take him. The Syrian scouts found Elisha in a town called Dothan and they went back and told the king of Syria where he was.
From 2nd Kings 6
13 “(The king of Syria) said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore (the King of Syria sent forth) horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. And when the servant of (Elisha) was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And (Elisha) answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”
His servant’s equation did not include God. But, Elisha saw God in it. So, no worries. That’s the whole difference.
I was reading the 2nd chapter of Hebrews this morning, and I think it says this exactly…….
”Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him.
But now we see not yet all things put under him.
But we see Jesus…….. “
With our physical eyes and mind, we may see the world, or our circumstances, or our relationships, going off the rails. We can despair. No one would blame us. Right? We obviously do “not yet see all things put under Him.”
But if God opens our eyes, ……..then…………… we see Jesus. (The Author and Finisher of Our Faith, God with us, by Whom all things were created, and by Whom all things are held together, the One Who loves us so much that He came to show us God, live and in person.)
I pray God opens our eyes, and we see Jesus……..
“And the things of Earth
Will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.”
I love you all. Really, I do.