The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
Zephaniah 3:17
So I have to admit I saw this picture and it sparked
something in my spirit and heart. But first I have a disclaimer to make.
Blogging is a new thing for me and I believe I have finally found the balance
in blogging and preparing a message, odd I know but that’s just me so please
forgive me. OK back to the picture it was this week when I saw it and I was
like that is awesome and as I reflected on what the picture could mean I felt
The Lord send me in a direction that I had not thought about.
Now that direction oddly enough is something we all experience or we think about and that is the times or seasons in our lives when it is completely dark and cold and it feels like God is nowhere to be found or like the picture alludes to we might ask the question or think God where are you at or are you asleep? It took me back to a picture that my mom had in our bathroom that I read many times as a teenager and that was before you go to bed give your troubles to God, because he will be up all night anyway. So the first thing we can agree on is God never sleeps and he never leaves us. OK well maybe you’re not yet convince so let me hit you with a few verses from the bible to cement it for us Deuteronomy 31:6 or check out Zephaniah 3:17. Now since God can’t lie and the Bible is his word we see that no matter how we feel or how dark it seems God is right there with us.
Now that direction oddly enough is something we all experience or we think about and that is the times or seasons in our lives when it is completely dark and cold and it feels like God is nowhere to be found or like the picture alludes to we might ask the question or think God where are you at or are you asleep? It took me back to a picture that my mom had in our bathroom that I read many times as a teenager and that was before you go to bed give your troubles to God, because he will be up all night anyway. So the first thing we can agree on is God never sleeps and he never leaves us. OK well maybe you’re not yet convince so let me hit you with a few verses from the bible to cement it for us Deuteronomy 31:6 or check out Zephaniah 3:17. Now since God can’t lie and the Bible is his word we see that no matter how we feel or how dark it seems God is right there with us.
Now my Pastor preached a message a few Sundays ago about
seasons and how they have a beginning and they have an end and sometimes we
might hold on or try to stay in a season long after God says it’s over or you
might do the reverse and refuse to enter a season because it’s not what you
want or how you think it should be. Long intro I know but I’m going to give you
what this picture means to me. If you didn’t know David is one of my favorite
people in scripture so I use him many times as a reference. But many times in
his life even though it’s never recorded I wonder how dark it felt to him as he
constantly found himself running for his life from Saul because Saul wanted him
dead because God had chosen David as the king to replace him. I wonder how he
felt those many of nights living in caves being driven far from home all
because God had put a call on his life to be king.
I wonder how he felt those many of times that he had opportunities to end it all by killing Saul and taking his place as king only to show Saul mercy and have Saul lie and break covenant with David. You see even in the midst of all the running and all those nights in caves and all those millions of question I’m sure David had, God knew exactly what he was doing and I believe he constantly showed David things throughout the journey letting him know he was right there with him and in control. See for God everything is timing and preparation and for David that whole season of living in caves and going through the things he did prepared him to be king. I believe a great gift being given at the wrong time can produces the wrong thing, for David becoming king earlier or later then he was supposed to would have produced bad results. Now dark seasons as we label them are not always fun and not always easy but I’m so thankful that we serve a God who can turn dark into day and take what was intended for bad and turn it into good.
Just like winter gives way to spring and night to day there is always an indication that the seasons are changing for spring it’s when it begins to get warmer and flowers begin to bloom, for daytime it’s when the sun begins to rise and the dark skies turn to blue, and for David it was when the crown of Saul was brought to him and put into his hand. So no matter where you find yourself today I pray that you know a few things God is alive and well and he is very aware of your situation, he’s not asleep nor has he forgotten about you. His timing is perfect and at the right time your dark night will give way to his beautiful light. The question I want to leave you is how will you respond? Will you focus only the darkness that surrounds you or will you look for the for the Son to rise?
I wonder how he felt those many of times that he had opportunities to end it all by killing Saul and taking his place as king only to show Saul mercy and have Saul lie and break covenant with David. You see even in the midst of all the running and all those nights in caves and all those millions of question I’m sure David had, God knew exactly what he was doing and I believe he constantly showed David things throughout the journey letting him know he was right there with him and in control. See for God everything is timing and preparation and for David that whole season of living in caves and going through the things he did prepared him to be king. I believe a great gift being given at the wrong time can produces the wrong thing, for David becoming king earlier or later then he was supposed to would have produced bad results. Now dark seasons as we label them are not always fun and not always easy but I’m so thankful that we serve a God who can turn dark into day and take what was intended for bad and turn it into good.
Just like winter gives way to spring and night to day there is always an indication that the seasons are changing for spring it’s when it begins to get warmer and flowers begin to bloom, for daytime it’s when the sun begins to rise and the dark skies turn to blue, and for David it was when the crown of Saul was brought to him and put into his hand. So no matter where you find yourself today I pray that you know a few things God is alive and well and he is very aware of your situation, he’s not asleep nor has he forgotten about you. His timing is perfect and at the right time your dark night will give way to his beautiful light. The question I want to leave you is how will you respond? Will you focus only the darkness that surrounds you or will you look for the for the Son to rise?
Lance.
No comments:
Post a Comment