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Facing the Unseen

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.   1 Timothy 1:17 KJV

Life sometimes hands us unforeseen results. It happened to me when the sun came up one Sunday just as it had always done. We dressed, went to church, and got ready for the communion service. Then just as I was setting up some special music at the sound board my cell phone rang.

The call was from our son who was in despair because his wife had walked out the door that day and he didn’t know what to do. That moment all of our lives were changed as if we had been hit by a lightning strike. We did not do everything right. We certainly did not know all the answers but we did drop everything and desperately prayed for God’s help as we drove some of the longest four hours of our lives as parents.

black leather strap silver chronograph watch

Photo by Jatin Anand on Pexels.com

I wish I could say that everything worked out: It didn’t. I wish I could point to a rosy happy finale to the scars it has left on our family but it hasn’t happened that way Only God’s grace and the presence of His Holy Spirit have seen us through.  We have at times faced the invisible forces of  anger, disappointment and fear. But we are still standing, in faith and still trusting God. We have learned that only Jesus sees the unseen and only He knows the way through to victory. He is our invisible God and who watches over us through the night of despair to the day of victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Fear Not

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Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.  Isaiah 41:10 ESV

Some of our dearest friends at times pooh-pooh our fears. They insist we are silly and unreasonable about the things that make us lie awake at night. But did you know that God takes our fears very seriously? In fact God tells us 150 times in the Bible. “Fear not!” Rather than lecturing us God offers us a promise, a reminder and a solution. He has promised to be with us. He doesn’t tell us;”Take three of these, drink lots of water and call me in the morning.” No God promises to constantly remain at our side. He is there through our sleepless nights and stays close when we are afraid. Next, God reminds us that not only will He be with us but that He will strengthen us. He will pour out on us the oil and wine of His presence when we have been wounded and carries us when we can’t go on. Last of all our God is a practical God. When the apostle Peter tried walking out on the water toward Jesus we are told that he became afraid and started to sink. I am so glad that Jesus didn’t just stand with his arms folded saying, “Come on Peter you can do it!”

No! We are told that as Peter began to sink Jesus immediately reached down and took his hand. I am so glad that on days when I feel I am sinking that He helps me to walk all through this year with all 150 “Fear Nots”!

Confidence

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And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. 1 John 4:14-15

Once long ago when I worked for a tree company, we were sent to remove a large tree that had uprooted and fallen across a stream. The tricky part about getting it out of the water was that the main stem stretched over the water which was about 5 feet deep at that point. KIMG2127

So I boldly climbed up on the trunk; walked out on it with my chain saw and began cutting loose as much as I could. Finally all that was left was the largest part of the trunk which was supporting the weight of the tree against the bank. In theory, if I cut the weight from the remaining portion, the roots would pull the stump back into position. So as I began my final cut the crew foreman called over to me. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

“No problem Mike. I’ve got confidence!” I boldly declared. A minute later suddenly the weight of the trunk dropped away, the roots holding me in place let go and I was tossed head over heels into the cold rushing steam. Miraculously I landing upright and unhurt chest deep in some of the coldest water I had ever been in. But my moment of joyful relief was immediately interrupted by Mike’s hysterical laughter.

“Oh I’ve got confidence! I’ve got confidence!” he shouted over and over.

In the hindsight gained by the passing of forty years I see clearly that the problem was not my lack of confidence but the one in whom I put my trust. But God is not like Me. He doesn’t miscalculate, nor thankfully does He laugh when make a mistake.  But instead when we put our confidence in Him we can trust  that He knows the right answer and that He will show us what to do. He is only waiting to see if we are ready to listen to Him and then we will find Him delighted to hear us and to answer our honest prayer.

 

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