Hope, Pain, The Ultimate Treasure, Words of Endurance
Not-So-Hidden Treasure
Sometimes You Just Need to Know Where to Look
Just because God doesn’t show up in the way we want or expect him to doesn’t mean He isn’t with us in our darkness. Sometimes it is easier to see Him if we know where and how to look:
Through Our Circumstances
During his wife’s extended battle with a degenerative illness, Rick Rood kept a journal in which he “recorded evidences of God’s hand on our lives. During the next twenty years, I returned to this discipline many times. Today, this journal is one of my most precious possessions because it is full of the record of God’s faithfulness to us.”
But I’ll take the hand of those who don’t know the way, who can’t see where they’re going. I’ll be a personal guide to them, directing them through unknown country. I’ll be right there to show them what roads to take, make sure they don’t fall into the ditch.
These are the things I’ll be doing for them—
sticking with them, not leaving them for a minute.
Isaiah 42:16 (MSG)
Through His People
When we question where God is, we need look no further than the hands of those who have fed, encouraged and comforted us to see that He has been with us in the darkness all along.“Sometimes all you have is a person who touches you or brings you water, ”Joanie Thompson explains, “and that is Him.”
Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything.
1 Peter 4:10-11 (MSG)
Through His Word
“When our pain blinded Dave and me to God’s presence,” Jan Dravecky shares, “the Bible assured us of His love.” Another woman wrote, “So many times I needed God to give me direction, to speak hope into my broken heart. I didn’t get the burning bush I wanted. Instead, God spoke to me through His Word.”
If I had not loved your teachings, I would have died from my sufferings.
Psalm 119:92 (NCV)