Where Am I, Lord?

THEME: When I am unstable, He is able

As Pastor Dan spoke to us this past Sunday about the messiness of life, his message also addressed the anxiety that often goes with it. He talked about how unstable we can become, especially when the messiness seems to compound. 

And it struck me as I am writing this, that the messiness is a natural fruit of a fallen world; however, the anxiety is an unnatural fruit of a Christian losing their identity. 

I found it eye-opening when I re-read Romans 16:20 and saw, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” God of peace! God gives us peace during good times and in the messiest of times. He is not always about peace, but He always gives us peace. Also, these inspired words tell us that He will crush Satan under whose feet? Your feet! Our feet!

He will allow us to stand firm, and more. He will use us and give us the strength we need to crush Satan. Wow and Amen!

As a young child, when I had a nightmare or was frightened, I at once ran to my parents' bedroom. I would wake my mother and tell her I had a bad dream or was afraid, and she would make room for me on the bed. Dad would grunt as she told him to move over. Instantly, I was no longer scared. Nothing could make me fearful at those moments as I lay next to my mom and dad. But I would need to return the next time I was frightened. 

No matter how real the dream was or how frightened I was, I could crush that dream and its fear when I was between my mom and dad. 

Similarly, in Judges 6, the messiness of the world overwhelms the Israelites, as the Midianites terrorize them at every turn. If the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites dug them up. The Midianites descend like locusts on the cattle and sheep. This terror reaches a point where the Israelites lose their identity and hide amongst the clefts and caves of the mountains. 

Amid this messiness, God sent them the prophet Gideon. However, what did the Israelites do before He sent Gideon?

They “cried out to the Lord.” It was not until they regained their identity and climbed into His bed that He answered them. 

But even Gideon allowed himself to be overwhelmed when he arrived and prayed, “Pardon me, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hands of Midian.” (Judges‬ 6‬:13‬ NIV‬‬).

However, he did pray and not just wallow in it, which is the crux. True strength and peace enough to crush our fears and defeat the enemy only come when we crawl into the lap of our Heavenly Father. 

Gideon continued this dialogue with God, confessing his doubts and fears. This is the dialogue recorded in Judges 6: “The Lord turned to him and said, 'Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” “Pardon me, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.” (Judges‬ 6‬:14‬-16‬ NIV‬‬)

To make a long story short, in Judges, Chapter 7, God used Gideon and his smaller army to ‘crush the enemy under their feet’. 

Our Father is a God of Peace. He is the God of our Peace, who will use our feet to crush our enemies, those anxieties from the inescapable messiness of this world. We will win when we first climb onto His lap. In His presence, all begins to make sense and find victory. 

His presence, our peace.

His peace, our strength.

His strength, our victory.

His victory, our peace. 

Amen!

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SCRIPTURE: ‬‬‬Judges 7:7‬ (NIV)‬‬‬‬‬

‬‬ “The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.”

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PRAYER:

Lord, could it be that despite all you have done for me, and the many times I have seen your miracles in my life, you are still not as real to me as my earthly parents were? How could I find so much peace and strength by crawling up close to them, and yet wallow in anxiety and stress with you who loves me even more than they? Lord, I must confess that I need to regain my closeness to you, and how fragile that closeness can be when taken for granted. I also must confess my foolishness in asking where you are, when I know you are right with me, and that it is I who have turned away; ever so subtly and slowly, but have, nonetheless. Can I please crawl up close to you again?