When I was 2 or 3 years old, I developed a severe case of wanderlust, fueled by unbridled curiosity. Eager to escape the confining environs of my back yard in Evergreen Park, IL or my parents’ immediate reach, I was a constant escape threat. Although I had the “fever”, my parents had the cure- aka “the harness”! Yet old habits, as they say, die hard. My lone memory of kindergarten/first grade is of me running in the classroom with Mrs. McBurney in hot pursuit.
As we transition into our desert, Land Between time, following our job loss, our thoughts/emotions/faith are likely to wander all over the spiritual landscape. When we sense little or no action on God’s part, we may feel compelled to create movement on our own behalf. Without affirming God’s constancy, goodness and sovereignty, however, we only head in the wrong direction. Isaiah 53:6 declares: “We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Handel musically captured the essence of this passage in the Messiah, orchestrating the meandering notes throughout all the choral parts.
My parents knew the consequences of my limited perspective. The harness became a visible sign of their loving presence and guidance. When the darkness of adversity envelops our faith perspective and Jesus seems a thousand miles away, the truth is that Jesus is reaching through our storm even when we cannot see Him and whispering His promises even when we cannot hear. Jesus has esperienced everything we may feel and taken it to the Cross. He is holding us in His arms. To think otherwise is to believe, as Ann Voskamp emphatically states in One Thousand Gifts, “the Serpents hissing lie”.
With Meredith Andrews, amy we daily affirm God’s past, present and future faithfulness: “Not for a moment, will you forsake me.”
