After praying, shock slowly gave way to wisdom as God showed us clearly what steps to take: Contact the security guard at the gate with the information and her number in case the taxi returned, call a friend to get the number for the bank, go get her bank book so we could run an update and be sure no one was using the card. While this was happening, God sent one of my best students down the hill. After explaining the situation to him, he joined us in the car as we went back to my friend’s apartment so that she could get the details about her credit cards. As she was upstairs getting information, a police car drove up and two smiling officers got out holding up a wallet and saying my her name. (Earlier Mark had received a call from one of them, since he’d given my friend his business card months ago. But we couldn’t understand him.)
Thankfully, all her cards were intact, with only the money missing. Though it was a stressful two hours, God was doing so much in each of our lives to teach us incredible lessons and remind us of his faithfulness. I started thinking about how I use the cut and paste option so often in dealing with computer documents and wondered, “What if I were to cut and paste this situation and God’s faithfulness and love demonstrated in it to other situations that were more challenging and lasted longer than two hours, maybe for months and years. And what if in doing so I pasted the anxiety that overtook me for the first hour as we wondered if she’d ever get the wallet and her credit cards back? How much joy and peace could I lose? What if instead I chose at the beginning to praise and thank God for the victory he was going to provide, though I couldn’t be sure what it would entail, so that when he did give an answer I hadn’t lost so much time fretting?”
Since God showed up in the recovery of her wallet, it’s only logical that he’s here with us in the larger problems like disease, death, loss of a job or home, a rebellious child, loneliness and depression. It’s natural to grieve and to feel fear and even to experience waves of anxiety (something that unfortunately happens to me often in trials). But we do make a choice about whether we’re going to live or remain in the fear. Feeling these emotions is something we can’t control; embracing them and letting them define us is. God commands and exhorts us not to be afraid or terrified (365 times “fear not” is mentioned in the Bible), because he doesn’t want us walking around living like we’re scared to death about anything, even the Goliath’s in our lives. Why? Because he’s absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, going to intervene on our behalf. It’s not something we can only hope for, but a promise he’s made that he will rescue and deliver us, that he takes delight in caring for his children (Ps 50:15, Ps 91:14, Zeph 3:17, 2 Tim 4:18, 2 Cor 1:10).
One of my favorite reminders of this is in Psalm 18 where David uses a metaphor to describe God’s zealous passion to protect and rescue his children. God mounts his chariot, riding through the clouds with flames coming out of his nostrils. He shoots arrows, scatters the enemies and then achieves his ultimate goal from the start: “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. He brought me into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me” (Ps 18:16-19.
This is sometimes hard for us to wrap our minds around isn't it -- that God delights in rescuing, protecting and providing for us. But he says it persistently in his Word. In fact, the Bible paints a continual picture of God reaching down, a zillion times it seems, and lifting his beloved out of pits, restoring their hope, healing them, giving them comfort and repeatedly exhorting them not to fear because he’s with them.
Yahweh, the great I AM, the God who parted waters, knocked down strongholds, defeated powerful armies, healed diseases and raised his Son from the dead, is with us, living inside us by his Spirit and even taking hold of our right hand (Is 41:13). He says in Isaiah 41:14, “I myself will help you.” He’s not too important to snatch three men from a fire or to deliver one of his children from the lion’s den. He’s never too preoccupied to take care of a lonely woman at a well or to meet a worn out prophet in the wilderness and encourage him. His compassion toward us is so immense that it surpasses knowledge (Ep 3:19). We look at our children when they suffer and do everything we can to alleviate their trials. God looks at our suffering and in wisdom does what is necessary to not only comfort and help us but to allow us to learn and grow from the difficulty.
God’s call to us today is to remember his unfathomable love and faithfulness in the past, to cut and paste the reality of it onto our present situations so that we can relax and know he’s God (Ps 46:10). The waves may try to overtake us and the fire may threaten our destruction, but God says, “Peace be still” (Mk 4:30). By standing on his promises, we can enter his rest, even in the most troubling times.
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go" (Jos 1:9).
