"My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that what you are experiencing is truly part of God’s grace for you. Stand firm in this grace."--1 Peter 5:12, New Living Translation
Just about all of us have been there, maybe a gazillion times in the same day: "Lord, show me the way....Lord, what is going on?....Lord, where are You in this?....Lord, speak to me, please...." And what do we often think we hear in response?
Crickets. Nothing. Silence. No booming baritone Charlton Heston voice rattling from the heavens. What's with that? And "Where are You, God, when I need You?" And, "Wow, I must have a really wimpy faith because this isn't happening."
Except scan the pages of the Bible, both the Old and New Testament, and story after story of men and women and young people who were all-in (or at least as much as they could muster) for walking with God and walking it out in real life ran into the same thing. If you listen carefully, you can almost hear their voices echoing yours, which is comforting in a way, but you really weren't looking for a pity party.
Look into these stories further, though, and time after time, while God may seem to have gone mute on their cries for direction and help, He was often speaking through letters sent from heaven that may not have been audible but nevertheless spoke His heart to their (and our) particular situation through a promise remembered while in a moment of silence, by Him tapping your heart on its shoulder as you remember that what you thanked God for yesterday is the very "voice", the answer, to your cries for help, guidance, clarity. And, even through a random song you heard in passing a few days ago.
It sure would be a lot easier, or so it would seem, if our conversations with God were always direct and to the point, like some sort of supernatural FAQ. But there wouldn't be much faith in that. And faith, as Peter reminds us in this letter of Love to a group of early believers who had a whole lot of questions and doubts swirling in their heads, too, is strengthened not by microwaved answers to every dilemma but through trusting when the wind is blowing you backwards.
Several weeks ago, during one of those times I thought all my questions to God had hit a glass ceiling, I awoke at 4 a.m. to the lyrics of one of those seemingly random songs heard a few days earlier:
"I feel You in the stillness, I know that You are good...
My heart will stay steadfast, I know that You are good..."
"Stay steadfast in mind and heart, son. Steadfast is not perfection or an arrival but a process--it is not living on the mountaintop or choosing to sigh in a valley of fog, but of living in undeviating constancy and resolve in holding on tight to all that I have said and have always been. Be steadfast, son. It's a very good place to be because it means your heart, your feet, your emotions, though they will be all over the map at times, can always rest in the 'fixed-in-place' assurance of My love and presence and guidance and strength and wisdom...and so much more than you can even imagine. Because steadfast is who I Am. It is the essence of all My goodness, and more than that, My goodness and amazing grace specially toward you."
Maybe the best part of all about this kind of Love letter from heaven is this: It never has, and never will, have a period at the end....
"People with their minds set on You, You keep completely whole, steady on their feet, because they keep at it and don't quit. Depend on God and keep at it, because in the LORD, you have a sure thing!"--Isaiah 26:3-4, The Message
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