Fighting through a forest

I’m in kind of a somber mood tonight, so I’m not entirely sure how this one’s going to turn out…

Remember in James, when he said, “Every generous act and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights; with Him there is no variation or shadow cast by turning.” (James 1:17, HCSB)

When I first started walking with God, I stumbled onto that verse, and it was probably one of the first verses I memorized. I think it’s because that’s one of my favorite names for God in the Bible: the Father of Lights.

Everything good comes from Him. And He promised us in so many places through His Scripture that He would take care of us, never leave us or forsake us, always give us what we ask in His name.

I was thinking about that one earlier today; “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5b, NIV). I guess I was thinking of it in the context of His never leaving even when it feels like He has. Even when we feel totally alone and screwed, our logic has to kick in and remember that He promised He wasn’t gonna leave us out in the cold. Today I really didn’t go much further with it than that, but tonight I’ve come full circle.

Because tonight I’ve realized that it just doesn’t take a lot for us to feel like He’s ditched us. We have all those good things that come down from Him, all those “perfect gifts” in our lives, but one little aspect gets wierd, and we start to think it’s all a trainwreck. We get all depressed and ticked off over the smallest things. I had something happen to me this morning that was really unexpected, something that brought back a lot of memories and frustration…something that really wasn’t that big in the grand scheme of things. But I let it totally come back and hammer me thoughout the day, effect my thoughts throughout the day, mess up my motivations for doing things. By the time I sit down to write this, I’m close to feeling hopeless about some things. All because of one little event…just one. Suddenly I couldn’t see the forest for the tree.

But that doesn’t mean He ditched me, or checked out to help someone on the other side of the planet for a while, or got frustrated and stopped caring. He’s still here. He’s in me. He’s beside me. He’s taking care of it. He never left. He never stopped.

And He hasn’t with you, either.

1 Comment

  1. Dave-

    Hi! I found your blog via godblogroll and whenever I visit a new blog I like to go back and see what the first few entries were (gives me a sense of why and when the blog was created). Anyway, thanks for this post…it was something I needed to read. From my brief persusal of your blog, it seems that you write with honesty and vulnerability. I’ll be back to read more!

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