What a year. What a crazy, tumultuous year! I could spend a lot of words describing this past year but I know I don’t need to. We all know. In one way or another, every one of us has reached the crest of a wind-driven wave and followed the falling curl into the foaming waters below. We’ve felt the crashing currents tugging us one way then pushing us another way. Into the midst of all the storms of reality, competing voices have risen on so many soapboxes that you can become dizzy trying to follow them all.
If you are like me you’ve spent more than one time of prayer looking to Abba and crying out, “What!? Why!? When are you going to do something? How are you going to deal with this?” And those questions can apply to so many things—not just the Covid-19 pandemic. If you’re reading this, I’m sure you can think of all the areas where your prayers of lament and—let’s be honest—complaining apply. I don’t think there is anything wrong with lamenting or complaining to Abba. In fact, the way God so graciously and patiently listens to me when I pour out the frustrations in my heart is one way He shows me the depth of His love.
Today, I received some good news after three days of not knowing whether it would be good or not. It could have been terrible news. Yet, it wasn’t and I was able to take a deep, relieved breath. One more storm navigated. One more challenge is overcome. Through it all, Jesus faithfully sat with me lending me peace and comfort as I did my best to keep my focus on Him and not my circumstance. At times, I am good at that. At other times, I struggle. Even in the moments when my heart raced a little more than usual, Jesus drew near. I could hear him saying, “I am with you in this. I am right here.” I saw Him sitting on a rock, calm and at peace…no hint of worry on his face. What a comfort that picture has been for me the last few days. This is the true blessing of hearing His voice.
I went for a walk today after hearing my good news and spent some time praying. I reflected on the last few days, which led me to reflect on the last year. I realized that my experience over these three days was a picture of a much wider time period. So many people have been living amid incredible tension for varying reasons.
It seems to me that uncertainty has become our certainty. As I thought about this, I asked the Lord what He might want to say about it. I felt like he said, “You have to have a place to stand.”
That simple phrase carried a lot of emotion with it. I could recall all the times when I felt like I was reeling. It reminded me of those TV show moments when a character’s head is surrounded by spinning images to show us their level of feeling confused and overwhelmed. Uncertainty is a part of life. This last year it has become a prominent part of our lives. At some point, we are tempted to throw up our hands and just give up. We need a place to stand. A centre and refuge to which we can turn and take a deep breath with what we know to be profoundly true. We are assailed every day right now by so many opinions and theories that it is little wonder why we are feeling overwhelmed. Where are we to stand?
I have learned this year about the inviting nature of Holy Spirit. Invitation has become an important theme in my life and one I’ve tried to share with others when I’ve had the opportunity. In that spirit, I don’t want to tell you to do anything, but I do want to invite you to join me in a place to stand.
When I asked Abba what that place was, I could feel Him smile. The most certain place we can stand is in the refuge of our Father’s Love. There comes a time to silence everything else—and I mean everything. Not only what all the voices are saying to you, but your own as well. There is a place in the heart where we simply bow our heads and humble ourselves as we enter the merciful, loving presence of Jesus. Here we can stand in the essential truth of the joy of our connection with Him. Here is the peaceful, quiet atmosphere of sitting face to face with our Comforter and saying in our silence that His voice, His words are Life to our very bones. He is our First Love and we just want to stand in that place with Him. Here is the essence and centre of that divine place to stand: Abba, Father loves you with a Divine Love that you can’t comprehend…can’t define or put into human words. You stand in a Love that is wondrous and wonderful, all-embracing and total…Do you see how my words fail to describe this Love? This is for you, right now, at this moment. I invite you to close your eyes and silence every other voice: Listen for Abba’s Love.
In this place, you stand with Jesus. Not to do anything…not accomplish some task or goal. Rather, he invites you to sit with Him and be. Yes: Be. Breathe in and breathe out. Calm your heart and mind. Jesus isn’t panicked. He isn’t frightened. He isn’t overwhelmed…His Peace is profound and He wants to share it with you. In this place of the heart, we stand in the truth of Christ’s Peace and Love that He never withholds. Any voice that has told you otherwise hasn’t understood Him. Here you stand in the certainty of Christ’s love for you. You are invited to stand in His atmosphere of certainty and peace.
In this place, you stand with Holy Spirit. His love surrounds us like an embrace of tenderness and compassion. He hears every word from our hearts. When we have lamented, He has gathered up every syllable and carried it before the Father, expressing the depths of our angst so that we know we’ve been heard. You’ve been heard. Holy Spirit fills our hearts with the light of His Presence and He makes a startling invitation to us in the midst of all this tumult and uncertainty: be transformed. In this place, we stand in the opportunity of allowing the transforming power of Holy Spirit’s Love to move within us as we retreat into the refuge of the central truth of what we believe: Christ has opened the Way for us to become like Him. Holy Spirit invites us to stand in this place and to be still…listen for the encouragement, the comfort, the teaching of our First Love so that we can become like Him. Our uncertainty becomes an opportunity to encounter God in a way that would not have been possible otherwise.
If you have been feeling overwhelmed by uncertainty, I invite you to turn off everything you’ve been paying attention to and to humbly enter this place with Jesus. Listen for Abba’s Love; listen for the Peace of Jesus; and allow Holy Spirit to move in your heart.
I invite you to open the gates of your heart and allow the King of Glory to enter in and be your place to stand.
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