Point of Obedience...

“Where are you, God? Life is threatening to overwhelm me like a tsunami, and you are nowhere to be found.” Does this sound familiar? Quite frankly, this thought has crossed my mind a number of times as my family and I have experienced tremendous loss over the past 14 month. In November and December of last year, my mother and Sheri’s father passed away respectively. Now, we have experienced another loss with the unexpected passing of my father on January 21. Though Sheri and I are doing well considering the circumstances, our three children (Bryce – 10; Braden – 7; and Brooke – 5) are struggling mightily to process such tremendous loss in so short a period. At our current vantage point, we have no answers concerning Why? It is quite possible that the perspective of time will never produce answers. What Sheri and I (and hopefully our children, at some point) have discovered is that God meets us at our point of obedience to him. In other words, answers may never be forthcoming regarding the imponderables of life, but God is absolutely trustworthy and faithful if we remain obedient to him, resisting the temptation to become embittered and paralyzed by the inevitable difficulties of life. Before his arrest and crucifixion, Jesus told his disciples to trust in God and trust also in him (John 14:1). They believed him because he had proven to be faithful in the three years they had been with him. They believed him because his words and actions were transcendent; like nothing they had ever experienced before (certainly not in the legalistic Jewish leadership). My encouragement to each of us is stay close to God, especially when life is difficult. Submit yourselves to God…. Come near to God and he will come near to you (James 4:7-8).
​Keep the Faith,
Pastor Tony