An Encouragement

Good morning on this Tuesday! I feel that you need an encouragement this morning. What am I saying? I need an encouragement this morning! We all need a shot of courage and steadfast faith on this new day. Perhaps I can work with God to give all of us some good news by way of encouragement right now. A little Rich Mullins on the music box helps. Some words of love and peace will do some good too. Are you facing a project that must be killed off today, and you dread telling someone about it? Does God feel distant lately and you don't think anyone else has that feeling? How is your circumstance? Temptation strikes from all sides as you look around and hope seems like a distant candle on a dark night. A stack of bills sits on your desk and you have no way to pay, that health issue has returned, and everyone you know seems to have taken up with the worst sorts of sin. Prayers for rescue seem to bounce off the roof over your head, and the feeling is that God has put up the hand of blocking. I don't know if it's good news, but every Christian has faced temptations, difficulties, sins, and that feeling of distance from God.

For us to learn to walk in the Way, sometimes God withdraws His mighty hand a little from our tottering steps. We immediately feel abandoned. Things in our lives don't seem to go real well when God does this. The house of cards we have built up in life collapses. Our treasure stores that Jesus told us not to put up here prove insufficient. Weakness gathers around us wherever we look. And, of course, we jump to blame God. Guess what? I'm there, you're there, and every brother and sister in Christ is either there or has been there. Shuffle up the disasters and deal the hand again, because we will probably be there once more before the end comes. The good news is that God hasn't left His throne.

The Lord who loved us on the cross still sits with the Father in Heaven. Providence remains steadfast even if at this time He appears a little slow to respond or distant from our pleas. God watches in love as we take a few steps with the training wheels off. Jesus reaches out to pick us up after a stumble. The Way to our eternal life in Christ remains before us, and the guarantee is based on the Cross. We may stumble and fumble along the Way, but we will arrive at our destination with Jesus our Lord.

Praise God for His love and mercy!
Bucky