Empty Handed

Sometimes I wonder where God is.  

Why sometimes I can feel Him strongly, and other times I feel alone.  Why sometimes when I read the Bible I'm filled with purpose and hope, and other times I'm distracted and anxious.

I’ve been feeling somewhat distant from God for a few days, while seeking Him.  Can you relate to that?  I’m reminded that our feelings are not “us,” they’re something that happen to us.  And that there are psychological and spiritual forces at work in us that we’re mostly unaware of.  I was also reminded of God’s amazing grace, the love that seeks to save and nurture souls like mine and yours that may not actually deserve it.  The relentless passion He has to keep pursuing us even in spite of the inbred and learned methods we develop for resisting Him.  Like my favorite old hymn, 

“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that save a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found.  Was blind, but now I see.”

Such a loving, caring, wise, wonderful Father!  

Remember that God is always leading us into the future He envisions for us…even when we don’t feel like He is.  As we submit ourselves daily to His preferred reality, aka “His Will,” we see His blessings unravel all around us. This is about trusting and obeying His word and His power…repeatedly releasing our grip on the worldly alternatives we have believed will give us worth and hope.  The more we do this, the more our hands are free to hold-on to Him who CREATES worth and hope that supersedes this world, with a fierceness that is unimpeded by self-serving counterfeits.  But don't expect the world to applaud you.

When we allow ourselves to be tricked into believing lies, or mired-down in pits of remembered disobedience - either by our own self-flagellating shame or by direct attack from the accuser of our souls – we can find ourselves far away from the hope and peace and joy He promises.  Not because He moved, but because we did.  This is the place of intimacy where He meets us hand-in-hand.

The abundant life of Jesus is free, but it is not cheap….it costs every false desire and preference we have.  But when we lay them all down and come to Him empty-handed, this is when we receive what we truly seek…what we truly need.  You can trust Him!

1 Peter 4:19
“If you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.”

Luke 9: 23-24
“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it."

Mark 10:29-31
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

James 4:7-10
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”