There is a old saying of the saints, “If you feel God is far away, then guess who moved.”  The obvious answer, of course is, “It wasn’t God”.  But can we, for a moment, consider the notion that sometimes it isn’t you or me, either.  Maybe, like David, it is thinking less about performance to God and meditating on the mere fact that God is near and will never leave us. 

God, our Father in heaven, truly is near.  Right now, He is listening.  Right now, Our Father is at work, fighting our upcoming battles with evil, before we even enter the ring in the first match.  God instills is abiding love and unfailing trust in us so that when we are tempted, we can run to Him for help, knowing that He is there.  Always there.

Stop and understand with gratitude this powerful, unbelievable truth that God is near. “That even when you can’t feel Him, he is still there, always there, never leaving or forsaking, his love big enough to span even the distance of your wandering heart”, writes Addie Zierman, blogger for “Faith Reimagined”.

She continues, “I want to say now what I wish someone had said to me years ago in my struggles to please God.  If you feel far away from God, maybe it’s possible that NO ONE moved. Not God, of course. But maybe not you either. Maybe this is just a normal part of the long work of faith.”

“Maybe the silence of God is not a punishment, but an invitation to a new kind of trust. In a world that is so loud and constant, where we are talking on social media even when we’re not using our voices, always saying something, always conversing and communicating…we’ve forgotten about the layers of Silence. The richness of it. The power of it. We’ve forgotten that God has a habit of going quiet with his people.”

I tend to agree with Addie.  Most times, it’s not another Bible Study we need to attend, another book we need to read, or another group we need to start at church.  That leads us into another temptations called “performance”.  God doesn’t expect more performance, He just wants us to BE with Him.

If you don’t feel God right now, if you don’t hear him and you desperately want to, be still. It’s possible that you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be. Rest in the quiet certainty of your own Belovedness. Stay where you are.

You are found. You are always being found.

Worship and Wisdom, Psalms and Proverbs

Psalm 11

A David Psalm

^1-3 I’ve already run for dear life
    straight to the arms of God.
So why would I run away now
    when you say,

“Run to the mountains; the evil
    bows are bent, the wicked arrows
Aimed to shoot under cover of darkness
    at every heart open to God.
The bottom’s dropped out of the country;
    good people don’t have a chance”?

^4-6 But God hasn’t moved to the mountains;
    his holy address hasn’t changed.
He’s in charge, as always, his eyes
    taking everything in, his eyelids
Unblinking, examining Adam’s unruly brood
    inside and out, not missing a thing.
He tests the good and the bad alike;
    if anyone cheats, God’s outraged.
Fail the test and you’re out,
    out in a hail of firestones,
Drinking from a canteen
    filled with hot desert wind.

⁷ God’s business is putting things right;
    he loves getting the lines straight,
Setting us straight. Once we’re standing tall,
    we can look him straight in the eye.

David, described in the Bible as “a man after God’s own heart”, knows God.  David doesn’t perform more, he trust more knowing God will put things right.

TRUTH: “God’s business is putting things right; he loves getting the lines straight,
Setting us straight. Once we’re standing tall, we can look him straight in the eye.”  God is near.  God hasn’t moved.  God is always at work.  We pray.  He works.  Rest in His abiding faithfulness to His created and beloved.  Think of it this way…

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know I am.

Be still.

Be

Proverb 7

^1-5 Dear friend, do what I tell you;
    treasure my careful instructions.
Do what I say and you’ll live well.
    My teaching is as precious as your eyesight—guard it!
Write it out on the back of your hands;
    etch it on the chambers of your heart.
Talk to Wisdom as to a sister.
    Treat Insight as your companion.
They’ll be with you to fend off the Temptress—
    that smooth-talking, honey-tongued Seductress.

WISDOM:  Knowing God is near, ready to help, is our first line of defense to fend off and avoid all temptations to leave God and His best for us.  Ask for wisdom and God will give it to us readily. 

James 1:5 tells us that if you ask for wisdom, God will give it generously without finding fault: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”  Wisdom leads us away from tempations.

We are His beloved.  God will provide all we need.

Abba Father,

Thank you for these words of Truth and Wisdom.  Thank you for insight and understanding how important it is to just BE with You before doing anything.  You are God and we are not.  Guide us into Your Truth and continue to teach us Your ways.  “Even when I don’t feel it You’re working…”  In Jesus Name, Amen