Despite difficulties, persecution, calamity or trouble,

What Jesus has done means we should never worry,

Nothing that evil can do will ever burst the bubble of Jesus,

So never give in to the temptation to give up cold turkey.

***

In my AA days I remember the teaching on the Two Great Plagues: worry and indecision. I always tried to stay away from those two and for the last part of my life I have mostly succeeded.

There are Two Great Truths that I feel God wants me to share with you; What I am aware of as I write: 1) The lonelier you are, the closer he is. 2) The more you respond with love when you want to give up, the more God will show you how close he is. The first demands a simple recognition by faith; hold on to the truth The second requires persistence in the answer; love when you don’t feel like it, despite the lack of evidence of revenge. Both require such significant faith that it is behavior that goes against what we are experiencing. Faith, therefore, manifests itself when we continue to trust, even though it seems that God is not there!

THE LONELIER YOU ARE, THE MORE ‘CLOSED’ GOD IS

I use quotes for ‘closer’ simply because God never changes; he is always close to us, present everywhere. So to say “the ‘closest’ is God” is really saying “the ‘closest’ is God according to our experience”.

The truth is that the more alone we feel, the more desperate we are for God to visit us with his Presence. There is usually always a message or a messenger that God uses to show us that he is never closer (in our experience).

See how it is that the worse things get, the more alone we are, the better they turn out, because God will miraculously show us how resourceful he is at getting our attention.

ANSWER IN LOVE AND GOD WILL SHOW HIMSELF

“At the right time” should read the heading above; in due time, God will manifest himself through our experience. God is never late. God never does wrong. Then we can trust God’s perfect timing for everything.

As we take a refreshing look at 1 Corinthians 13, we find that love is the response that God’s Spirit urgently wants to see through us, especially when we are exhausted in broken loneliness.

As we respond to the worst things with patience, kindness, meekness, generosity, rejoicing in the truth; enduring things, believing him, clinging to hope, and enduring even this; we are transformed by the renewing of our mind.

***

The more alone we are, the more broken and confused we become, the more willing God is to make Himself known in that lonely brokenness.

© 2014 SJ Wickham.