The God of Today and Tomorrow

THEME: He never leaves us nor forsakes us

As I listened to Josh’s wonderful message this past Sunday, which the world may have seen as a downer, I believe those who know Jesus saw it as a joyful and positive reality. Life is messy. As Josh told us, “Confidence in the future does not always answer the questions in the now,” and “Our grief and hardships do not always come with a resolution.” But through it all, we have a God who chose to become like us and to experience the messiness we do. He wept. He was hungry and even questioned his Father while on the cross. We have a High Priest who walked our path, perfectly.

Josh used the story of Lazarus as a microcosm of our lives. And Josh pointed out that John, led by the Holy Spirit, gave us every detail to show us how life works, even while Jesus walked among us. I also see this as an affirmation of the truth of Scripture. If man had made this story up, he certainly would not have included two women who were closest to him, accusingly questioning him. The writer, for sure, also would not have included that God incarnate was weeping over the people’s grief.

Since man's fall, life has been a dichotomy of joy and grief, life and death, and answers and questions. Into this existence stepped the Creator, looking just like us, with our frailties, fully human and God. Today, in this fallen world, we often have more questions than answers and feel the need to ask accusingly. We grieve. So did Jesus. As Josh pointed out, not all will be healed, not all grief will disappear, and we may not get the answers we seek. But we have faith, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans‬ 8‬:28‬ KJV‬‬)

God’s purpose for Lazarus may be different than what it is for me. However, we do know that whatever His purpose, He loves us enough to weep and is closer than we can imagine.

A story is told of a master potter known for her exquisite clay vessels. One day, while carrying her finest creation—a delicate vase—to the market, she tripped, and it shattered on the ground. Heartbroken, she gathered the pieces but returned them to her workshop instead of discarding them.

Carefully, she ground the shards into dust, mixed them with fresh clay, and shaped a new vessel. When she fired it in the kiln, the vase emerged with stunning colors and patterns, more beautiful than before, strengthened by its brokenness.

A young apprentice, watching in awe, asked, "Why didn’t you throw it away?" The master potter smiled and said, "Brokenness is not the end. In the hands of the Potter, even shattered pieces can become something new."

Like clay in God’s hands, our brokenness is not wasted. He reshapes our pain, failures, and regrets into something more substantial and beautiful. But this is no effortless process. Like the potter in the story above, our God goes through many of the same steps to redeem and reclaim our brokenness for his good pleasure and purpose.

In this life, we will have questions without resolutions, grief without total healing, and illness that will eventually lead to death in our present bodies. Through it all, we have a Savior and

Lord who has been where we are, works all things for the good, and promises us a new life in eternity with our God and brothers and sisters.

And for the now? He is with us and will never leave us. He shares our grief, accepts our questions, understands, and is right here, right now.

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SCRIPTURE: Romans‬ 8‬:38‬-39‬ NIV‬‬‬‬‬

‬‬ “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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PRAYER:

‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬Lord, allow me to grasp that I am your creation, made for your good pleasure and purpose. Let me also grasp that I am now an alien in this world I once was so much a part of, and that trying to fit back into this world will lead to more frustration and heartache. I am smiling as I write to you this prayer, as I know I have died to my old self, yet am still in this flesh that is so tied to the world in which I am alienated. Thus, I have grief, questions, sickness, pain, along with more joy than I could ever imagine, more love than I could ever conceive, and a hope that is beyond this earthly existence. So, forgive my questions, accusations in frustration, and wondering where you were when I got myself lost. I so love you, my Lord! Amen!