nawinter.com

Fair warning – this is one of those blogs that will cause my mom concern. No need to worry, Mom, I’m just fine. Just being philosophical or theoretical or something that sounds intelligent). 🙂

One of the great mysteries of the Christian walk are the times when God feels far away. Oftentimes, this follows moments of great happiness and joy. We ride the high of grateful exuberance and when the allure of the new blessing has faded away, we wonder where God is. We had confused pleasure with His presence and then we lost our sense of Him in the distraction of the days. We can feel like Dorothy seeking the Emerald City with nary a friendly face in sight.

These times, these moments of feeling like God’s lost when we want to be lost in God, are not for the faint of heart. There can be moments of anguish as we search for what we thought we once knew. We strive towards God, hoping that we can somehow conjure that feeling of completeness that we thought we had obtained when times were good. We struggle, hoping to overcome the temptations that blight our path. And we persevere knowing that the faithfulness of God far exceeds our momentary feelings of betrayal.

The desperation drives us to our knees. And that’s when we find what we’ve been seeking.

Its the moments in the wilderness that causes us to recognize the comforts that abound in God’s presence. If we turn to Him in these moments, it’s easy to see that the promises that He holds for us far outweigh the temporal joys of this life. When all else fails, He is faithful. When all else breaks, He holds firms. When all else is compromised, He remains true. No aroma is sweeter, no arms more satisfying than that which we experience when we find ourselves with Him. It is with Him that we find rest.

The wilderness can be a scary place to be unless you know the way. Or if you are with the One who created it. Then it becomes a great adventure.

The angel of the LORD encamps around
those who fear him, and delivers them.
— Psalm 34:7 (ESV)

Being surrounded is usually thought of as a bad thing. It describes what happens when someone is trapped; when they have no where else to turn, and when their options are limited. Most of the time its used to demonstrate how enemy combatants win wars – they surround the opposition and attack.

But being surrounded can be a good thing. We can be surrounded by love, although few of us are. We can be surrounded by blessings, which we probably are even if we don’t acknowledge it. Or we can be surrounded by God and His angels – who protect, defend and deliver us from our affliction. This is the opposite of the surrounding that happens by our enemy; they’re surrounding us for our good.

How often, though, do we forget that this protection is there? In the moments of trial, we have warriors who have already taken up the battle on our behalf. And not just one warrior who is swooping down from his previous post to rescue us, but warriors who are stationed around our lives; soldiers who are fighting for us before we know that the battle is going on.

There’s a verse in the Bible that cautions us to be careful – we may be entertaining angels unaware. Maybe we should also be grateful – those that surround us may come to our aid even when we don’t know it.