Reminder: God is Here
Reflections on Philippians 4:1-9
“Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Jesus Christ.” Philippians 4:6&7
Last Sunday I experienced a spiritual awakening. In one of my congregations, we have recorded music that sounds like a carillon is playing. The bell sounds were a delight to hear, then I realized the recorded songs were still for the Christmas season. Upon recognizing this was the wrong season, I was going to find the person that turn them on, to turn them off; but I didn’t because realizing the message given was God is here and gives peace.
When listening to the news, all the stories seem drab and frustrating. We see what is happening in Israel and the Gaza Strip, right away we assume God is punishing those people for something they did wrong-but that is not true. We notice recently about the protests on college campuses’ with issues of antisemitism and feel God is not on the side of the Jewish people because they haven’t seen Jesus as Messiah-but that is not true. We could look at any number of situations happening in the world and feel God is finally bringing people to justice-but that is not true either.
What is true, is that all the disasters in the world. All the prejudice that is acted out in communities and the hatred that is inflicted on others. All the power struggles that occur near and far are created by someone’s choice for these things to happen. What is true, is that God gave every human being the freedom to do right or wrong, this is called Free Will.
However, in the midst of confusing time God is working overtime to correct the wrongs that are created by people. We look towards Gaza again seeing destruction and death, but looking with spiritual eyes of faithful prayer we see God’s actions in the midst of despair. God using people to bring relief to the hurting. Volunteers bringing food to the starving. Medical supplies who need healing and people to talk with to understand their situations.
So the next time you question if God cares about situations in the world that seem impossible, the truth is God is closer then you think correcting the messes peoples choices have made.
Dear Lord I am embarrassed to admit I have blamed you for the choices people make. Wash me with your Spirit so I may be a new person to all I meet. Remind me always, you are here. Amen.