07/03/2020
In times of pandemic it is easy to feel confused, and not know how best to behave, or deal with the circumstances that confront us. We find ourselves unable to properly handle illness, suffering, and death, or to remain hopeful when we have lost our jobs, or even our homes. All of these things can bring on a feeling that we are lost, but In this moment of our greatest travail God calls us to come the closest.
“We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.””
2 Chronicles 20:12 ESV
We like to think that we are the closest to God, and Jesus Christ, when our cupboards are full, we feel healthy, and are standing in church singing joyous hymns, but in reality, we are never closer to Him than when our world appears to be crumbling, and we must throw ourselves desperately into His arms. In such dire moments in life, and faith, God speaks loudest to us, and the veil that has separated us grows the thinnest because we are forced to bury our face into it as we call out to Him in the name of Jesus.
“God can work without means. God often brings His people into such a condition that they do not know what to do. He does this that they might know what He can do. God is with His people at all times, but He is most sweetly with them in the worst of times.” - Thomas Lye, Puritan Sermons 1659-1689
This is not a new revelation. The Israelites cried out in the wilderness, David pleaded in Psalms, Jesus Himself wept in the Garden of Gethsemane, and so many men and women of God have sobbed, and crushed their faces into the veil throughout time. There is no moment in our faith more poignant than the instant of salvation, or that reminds us most of our first encounter with Jesus than God’s rescue from life’s calamity.
“The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; he is their stronghold in the time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.”
Psalm 37:39-40 ESV
No one can be ambivalent towards their faith in times of great hardship or suffering. The faith of men either increases, or falls away, but it never remains unchallenged. It is amazing how suffering in the physical world, can bring such change in spiritual realms. Once Jesus had said “It is finished”, and gave up His Spirit, something incredible happened between heaven and earth... The temple veil was torn in two, and the lentil above the way leading into the Holy of Holies was split In half... this opened a path between heaven and earth for all those of faith, but we are like blind men, and must feel our way towards that opening throughout our lives; coming closest in our suffering until at last it is finished, and we step triumphantly through.
“And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.”
Matthew 27:51 ESV
So, are we suffering today? Are we standing at the veil with our faces pushed into it, while calling for God’s rescue? Will our faith lead us to feel desperately for the opening that Jesus made, and to smell desperately for the sweet incense escaping through it from heaven, or will we turn away and retreat into hopelessness? One thing is certain... we are at a point of imbalance, and must decide which way we will fall... what is your choice?
“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.”
Hebrews 3:12 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for our increases in faith, and our resolve to worship you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Thank you especially Lord, for the moments of suffering in this world which propel us on. Help us Father in those moments of imbalance to always fall into your arms, and never backwards into the darkness of where we once were. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who stands at the veil and beckons us to come. Great are you who sent your only begotten Son that we would have an opening; a way to your eternal table. Praised be your name for the glory of your grace that filled us the moment we first believed, and for every encounter with hardship since that time which has allowed us to relive that instant of spiritual quickening in some way. Your Word is truth Father, and your promises without fail, so protect us against he who would cause us to doubt, and feed our faiths with the manna of your Holy Word. Hear our prayers, taste our tears, and caress our faces as we press them into the veil. Stand in the gate that is our faith in Christ, our eternal salvation, and call our names, saying “Come”.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
James 1:2-4 ESV
Rich Forbes