It’s in our darkest hour that God comes! He enters into the problem, although we may not be aware of His exact timing and presence in those lonely agonizing times. Ponder Moses, when he asked God to reveal His glory, and God answered that He would make all of His goodness pass before him but that He couldn’t reveal the glory and radiance of His face or He would surely die. Moses couldn’t watch! He couldn’t see God when He did His work. Why? well… take a look at that conversation. Ponder it deeply in your heart of hearts and in your deepest soul. Tuck it in there for safekeeping on a rainy day, when the winds howl and the wolves prowl
.Exodus 33: 17 – 20
“The Lord replies to Moses, ‘I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favourably on you, and I know you by name.” Moses responded, “Then show me Your glorious presence.”
And He (God said) said (To Moses),
“I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see me and live.”
Then the LORD said something most interesting,
“Look, stand near me on this rock, as my glorious presence passes by, I will hide you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and let you see me from behind. But my face will not be seen.”
Friends and beautiful souls, it’s dark there in the crevice of the rock with the LORD’s hand covering our eyes, don’t you think? But it’s safe there in the shelter of the Rock as God does His thing to reveal His glory in our circumstances. He did it for Moses and He does it for us if we give Him the reigns to shelter us from the trouble and hide us securely protected from His awesome work. Yeah, we might not be aware of His presence when He presents Himself in the struggle, because He covers us with His hand so we can’t see His face, but it’s here He’s working with a powerful, sovereign hand to fix it all, just the way He desires to fix it. It’s in the dark He works so sovereignly to reveal His glory and to shine directly and radiantly into our darkest of dark!
Oh yes, you and I and we and us, How often do look back at the struggle that just past and although we didn’t see Him, we know that we know He was there, because it could have only been God that performed and orchestrated such amazing work in such perfected fashion? So, for you today, down in the dumps, needing desperately to see something from the LORD, hold on to hope and stay safely there in that dark spot; In that safe place protected right there until God is finished doing what He’s doing and when He takes away His hand then look! Then smile! Then be thankful for the dark that just passed over!
Now ~now it’s safe to see what He’s accomplished. Beautiful soul, How blessed we are to know His goodness and to see His glory revealed.
Raising four kids over my ‘mom’ years has taught me some interesting and valuable lessons about forgiveness. I’m still learning but I’ve realized it isn’t about the other person or the offender at all. No ~ As selfish as it sounds, It’s about the “me, myself and I”, before the Lord, in the situation, and His power and His strength in us, giving us the ability, to accept the loss or the hurt, regardless of how deep it may go! We have to get closer to God in order to forgive an
Think of it this way! Have you ever forgiven your kids, even when they haven’t asked? When they’re young, we do don’t we? And in their child-like simplicity, they forgive us when we fail them in their little worlds, so big to their concerns. It’s all in a day’s work and just a valuable part of training in kids-world and parenting. However, as they get older with their own minds and rebellious behaviours, it becomes a little more “adult-like” difficult and chances are they’re not asking because they don’t care. So, rather than harbour it, holding it against them ~ we have to accept what they’ve done, forgive and let it go and yeah, maybe ten times a day or more and always with the knowledge of another day tomorrow with maybe more of the same scenario. Remember the offender seldom asks nor do they have the ability nor power to heal. If we depend on the offender for our healing we may take the bitterness to our grave.
Hope and Healing In Hard Places 