Living in the Meantime

“The Lord made a covenant with us at Horeb…”         Deuteronomy 5:2

I wrote last week that God always speaks, but He usually whispers. However, you may be in a situation where you want a rushing mighty wind not a gentle breeze. Earthquake, fire, and wind are preferable to the still small voice. You want His voice to be louder than the noise of your crisis.

In the Bible God sometimes does shout His answers. A divided sea, a healing, an exorcism, a stilled storm, a resurrection. It appears to happen all the time in Scripture. Why should today be different? What we don’t realize is that between the pages of two miracles in the Bible may be months, years, decades, or more. People lived long stretches “in the meantime.”

At the close of his life Moses addressed the people, and he began by reminding them of all the clear ways God had spoken to them. There were unmistakable events in their history that they had to remember during the quiet whispers of the meantime.

We’re certainly not wrong to want something clear and concrete where we can say “THAT was God!” I believe God does provide those mountain-top-clarity moments and then we tend to forget them in the long periods of the meantime. We need to hold on to our sacred memories.

Isak Dinesan wrote a story about a man who became a rich author early in life. “Like most people to whom wealth and fame happen unexpectedly, the young man developed significant adjustment problems. He had written out of poverty about poverty, but now he was rich and felt isolated from the condition and the people who had given him his first book. He was estranged from his wife, from God and even from himself. He wandered all night in the streets of Amsterdam, trying to sort things out. He decided that he would never write again and gave away the manuscript of a new book he was writing.

“About at the end of his rope, he was considering suicide when suddenly, he felt overcome with the presence of God. God seemed to speak to him directly that he should write again, ‘not for the public this time, or for the critics, but for me.’ ‘Can I be certain of that?’ he asked. ‘Not always’ said the Lord. ‘You will not be certain of it all the time. But I tell you now that it is so. You will have to hold on to that.’”

You’ve had a moment, at least, when you were sure. The clouds parted, the window opened, the noise died away, and you KNEW it was God. You have to hold on to that. To get you through the long stretches of God’s whispers when fear and doubt are likely to set in, you have to hold to that.

When were you sure? What was the moment? Was it in a sanctuary? Your den? Driving in the car? In the words of a friend? A walk in a forest? God has spoken to you. Remember that moment right now. That was real. That was God. Your faith now is not in vain. You’re right to believe. It’s called perseverance, an important facet of faith.

Now hold on to that.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

November 11, 2018

1 Comment
  1. I needed that today Terry. Thank you