One day, I was at church, just attending the service with my family (as was unusual for the girl that had always been super involved in church). I ran into an old friend. Morgan. I stopped her and we started talking. I asked if we could sit for a moment or two and when I sat her down, I went on and explained to her that her testimony had completely rocked my world. It was so often that I was able to wake up in the morning because I knew that God had brought Morgan through the same things that I was going through, and I saw with my own two eyes that she was just fine. I explained these things to her and she was deeply touched by the truth that her life had changed mine radically and was daily helping me to live more fully.
From that point on we just began living life and doing some of that together. All that has led to, first, this blog, and second, working together to teach young women in the church. Now, I don't know how long this will last, or how long God will allow us to continue doing this together, but for now, I'll take it as a blessing, and it's been absolutely fantastic.
So this morning, Morgan and I taught a seminar class for Junior Highers at our church. Our topic? When God feels far away. We've both definitely experienced feelings of distance from God and had desperately wondered what to do. After talking for a while, we decided the best way to teach the seminar was to first pray... A lot of prayer went into this thing... and second, to go over the history of the Bible and recall how people in the Bible, mostly the Old Testament had dealt with feelings of distance from God.
I want to take a little bit of time to run through this with you. If you have time, sit back and answer two questions:
1. Who is God?
2. Who are we because of God/ in relationship to Him?
What do you come up with? Now keep that list and add to it as we review the lives of several characters from the Old Testament over the next few weeks.
Preface
Creation! In a sweep of beauty and magnificence the God who was and is and is to come stretched out his mighty hands and with them created man and woman upon the earth that he had sung into existence with grand trio of His trinity. Splendor and awe filled the heavens and the earth as the angels stopped and stared at all of what was made, from the cells of the plants to the creeping animals upon the vibrant green grass to the stars that now hung in the heavens to give light to the brilliant night. And God proclaimed: "It is good."
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve walked along in the garden with no shame and nothing to hide. They were intelligent and fully awake and alive. Their lives were stimulating and full of creativity and glory. They wore the mark of their creator's hands shamelessly and lived in the utter wonder of His presence.
Then Eve approached the tree. She was tempted. She believed the serpent's lie and ate the fruit. The fruit that God had commanded her not to eat of. The only command that God had given Adam, she broke. She gave some fruit to her husband, and he also willingly chose to call God a liar and do the only thing God had commanded him not to do. I imagine their world seemed to fall under a haze as they looked down at themselves in horror, realized that they were naked, and then, falling, utterly ashamed. They ran away and hid from God.
Then, God was walking through the cool of the day. He called out to them, "where are you???" I can hear the ache in his voice, the understanding and the desperation... yet somehow a hint of forgiveness that stung to devastation upon the two new-found sinners. God obviously knew where they were... he knew what had happened... yet he chose to seek them. He sought them and they were found, naked and ashamed. As they were. They were banned from the paradise that they had once known and cursed from the perfection that they once owned. But not without hope. From the very beginning, God shows his mercy. He gives them life, he gives them hope, and he gives them a future.
Even when man spit in the face of God, calling his truth lies, he sought them out, and found them, giving them hope for the future, even in the midst of the curse that he spoke to them. Looking at Genesis 3 we will see that God says to the serpent, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." Who ultimately crushes Satan's head? Christ. Who's the ultimate promise and hope for the cessation of our separation from God? Christ. Of whom was the promise made even right after man sinned against God? Christ.
So who's our hope for unity with God? Christ.
Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:31-39) No.
Does Christ speak to God on our behalf as the blameless sacrifice for our sins? Yes. (Romans 9:31-39)
If God is for us can anything be against us? No. (Romans 8:31-19)
So Thank GOD for Christ.
Yes, maybe God feels far away, but is God nonetheless so so faithful to those he has called? ABSOLUTELY. Read Romans.
Questions, Comments, Concerns? Please leave a comment below or send us a message somehow. We would love to talk to you more about this topic.
The next character that we will be talking about is Abraham, and how God remained faithful to him even though he was a mere imperfect man of faith. (Hebrews 11).
So much love.
Jewels
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