Where is God? Do you see Him? Do you know Him? Where is God calling you to go next? My guess is there are times in your life when you are not quite sure how to answer these questions. There are times in your life when you find yourself wondering. I totally get this. I totally get the confusion life brings at times.
We know the words the psalmist writes are true, and yet…
God is our refuge and strength, a help always near in times of great trouble. (Psalm 46:1)
Here is something I have been thinking about recently. God is a sending God. Even before Jesus came to this world, God sent John the Baptist.
6 A man named John was sent from God. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him everyone would believe in the light. 8 He himself wasn’t the light, but his mission was to testify concerning the light. (John 1:6-8)
God sends before we know what we need.
Then Jesus comes, and then he sends people out.
After these things, the Lord commissioned seventy-two others and sent them on ahead in pairs to every city and place he was about to go. (Luke 10:1)
Jesus was living with them, but not everyone knew him. So Jesus sends.
God sends while he is with us.
Then Jesus leaves, but before he does, he sends.
7 Jesus replied, “It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
9 After Jesus said these things, as they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going away and as they were staring toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood next to them. 11 They said, “Galileans, why are you standing here, looking toward heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:7-11)
Before Jesus leaves them, he takes time to tell them to go. He sends them, telling them to go out into the world.
God sends, even into the future.
It may stretch these verses some, but it is a comfort to me that I need to remind myself to remember.
God is at work. He sends people. He sends people into your life before you need them. He sends people into your life seemingly right as you need them. He will even send you.
Blessings,
Pastor Matt
(All scripture cited above from Common English Bible Copyright © 2011)