Tuesday, February 28, 2017

I Am With You...Always

Where in the Bible is God's presence not seen? At every turn, the pages of Scripture bear witness to His active interest in His creation. Even in Esther, the only book of the Bible in which God's name is conspicuously absent, the divine hand may be clearly seen behind every coincidence. God is real and involved in the lives of Bible characters, sometimes more than they would like Him to be! But when it comes to our self-sufficient modern times, God is imagined as a distant Being who dutifully keeps the universe ticking from some zillion light years away while we tend to our own affairs on our own little planet. We don't need His help anymore; we are a technologically advanced species and can send lightning bolts from heaven all by ourselves now, thank you very much.

Even Christians easily adopt this prevailing attitude, theoretically acknowledging that God is omnipresent, faithful, loving, and so forth, while at the same time "living like atheists." Is it any wonder that believers so often struggle in their devotional lives, trying to relate to a God of long ago and far away? All the while, our Lord's promise, "I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20) is still as true as the day He spoke it, and if that's not enough, the promise continues, "I will never leave you" (Hebrews 13:5). He is with us, constantly at work in our lives. Constant companionship is almost unheard of in the world as we know it, so perhaps it's difficult to imagine someone who is always there, always available. But whether you acknowledge Him or not, Jesus is right beside you every moment. You're not alone, so why live like it?