If they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I
will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with scourges;
but I will not remove from him my
steadfast love, or be false to my
faithfulness.
-- Psalm 89: 31-33
The readings today, in my morning prayers and in the mass,
seemed to be a continuation of the thoughts I last had on “Where Is God?” And people I have met and spoken to since
then seemed to be asking me that question.
Only they were asking it in different words.
A woman, a stranger, came up to me and asked: “Can you pray
for my children, and especially for my grandchild. They seem to have lost their faith.” And a friend spoke to me of her trials at
work and her thoughts on the future: “I don’t know if any of this is important
to me. I see myself retiring someday and
wondering: Have I done anything important in my life?” Without speaking the words, it seems to me
that both are asking: Where is God? Does anything I do matter? I feel unhappy or worried; can you pray to
God for me --- He doesn’t seem to answer my prayers, nor bless my actions. Where is He?
In my last post here I described where God is; He is here
among us, if we would just look for Him.
But even more, He is here among us if we would believe it to be so, if
we would have faith in what we cannot see with our eyes. Jesus told Thomas that he needed faith, and
“blessed are those who believe without seeing.”
Both these people who came to me were looking for God, but not looking
in their hearts.
I said that I was struck by God in Medjugorje, the clarity
of my grey-ish beliefs becoming clear solely through His action, the action of
His Holy Spirit in me. That is what
happened suddenly to me, even as it happened suddenly to Paul. Why did God do that for me is for Him to
know, and me not to worry about. But
what of the people who are wandering about, as I described it, in the dark and
not seeing His light? It’s hard to just
talk to them and convince them by MY words or actions: “Trust me, if you just look for God you will
find Him. You will see the light if you
try.” If they’ve grown used to the dark,
telling them that there is light is like telling a blind person what it is to
see. They can get an idea of what I am
saying; they might even feel around and understand to some degree what I am
seeing. But that is not seeing it for themselves.
If you have not experienced the impact of faith, it is hard
to believe. I understand that. Even Job in all his tortures still had faith
in part because he had at one time seen the presence of God in His life, and
had felt His blessings. For some people
it has been so long, or they have so focused on their particular sufferings of this
day so much, they no longer remember that God once blessed them.
Despair comes more easily to some than others; some experts
say it is a chemical thing in our makeup, and that some are more prone to it. Perhaps, but while God’s Holy Spirit can gift
us with faith and turn on His light in us and chase away our darkness and despair,
is there something we can do to encourage or be open to receive His light?
I think there is.
I have described on this blog how I once reached a point of
despair in my life also, and how I gave up hope of doing good with my life, or of
finding true happiness in my life. It
was in that despair that I cried out to God that “I give up.” And I gave my life to Him, promising to stop
What can you do to promote receiving of that faith? I think putting up constant reminders to HAVE
that faith will help. I wrote here a
number of times about things I have done to encourage myself to have patience
or perseverance or humility or to pray more often. All of the things I did to get those
blessings involved reminding myself that I wanted them; and with the reminders,
what I wished for and prayed for came about.
I think a reminder to “have trust in God” will bring it about also. Trust, like love, is a matter of our will. We can will to trust; and we need to be
reminded to do so. That Divine Mercy
image does it for me.
Scripture says that we can love because He first loved
us. I firmly believe that. If we have faith in that love, if we remember
the times when we felt loved, if we remember the times when we gave love,
willingly, we will dispel the despair of our hearts. “Why doesn’t God hear me?” we may ask. A better question is” Why don’t we listen to
Him?”, for He is always present. We can always ask strangers to pray for us; we
can always ask friends their opinions and for their prayers, and to just hug us
when we really need a hug. All these
things are good. But all these things
are good because we are seeing the Light of God in these people around us; we
are seeing His love present in those He brings into our lives. We need to understand that in turning to
them, we are trusting in Him, and therefore in His love. We are not alone, without God. We need not fear or be anxious. We only need faith and to listen. And His never-ending love will flow over us.
Love conquers all things; we need to let it conquer our
fears.
My Jesus, I trust in
You.
As always your post is an encouragement to anyone who reads. You sure have been walking with God very closely of late. Of course I know you have been close to Him all along, but life events has a way of drawing us even closer. I sense you may be giving yourself a pep talk like I often have to do. Your words do a better job than my own pep talks. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteMay your words here be an encouragement to all as they have been to me.
Even if it is only you who reads, or who feels some benefit, it is enough for me. Even, I guess, if I don't know of anyone who benefits, it is still enough. I trust. If I feel compelled to write some words here, I trust they are written for a reason, even if I don't understand.
ReplyDeleteJust like there is a reason that two people who never met sometimes benefit from "knowing" each other, God works in ways we can never understand. I so easily trust that these days.