I’m relying on the truth of this promise right now. A friend called to say that she has no hope for living and isn’t even certain that she’s a child of God. She’s lost the will to go on. Her reason? God doesn’t seem present or real and has allowed her to repeatedly go through humiliating and difficult situations. She cries out for deliverance, but he seems silent and she can’t feel his presence.
We can all relate to some degree. We enter into a relationship with our creator and expect him to take charge of our lives in a way that we can understand. But he works in mysterious ways which are often beyond our comprehension. We hit an impasse and don’t know how to pray or what to pray for in our struggle. But he assures us that the Spirit, who lives within our earthen vessels, knows everything about us and is able to pray for us “in accordance with the will of God.”
At this very moment, if we’re children of God, the Spirit of Life is interceding for us. He knows the perfect will of God for our lives and is able to pray effectively toward that end. As my sister-in-law likes to say, “God’s got this!” He’s in control even when we feel out of control, confused and don’t know how to pray. Jesus, our great high priest, is also interceding for us as he sits at the right hand of the Father.
I’ve been so anxious lately about our future, what we’ll do when we leave Korea, how God will provide for our family’s needs. As I sit down each morning to pray I find it increasingly difficult to voice my burdens to God. I know they’re present because I feel the weight of them, but I’ve buried them so deep I’m not sure exactly what’s wrong.
Reading over this verse again today reminds me that I don’t have to understand all that I’m thinking and feeling. My comfort lies in the fact that God knows, and the Spirit has been interceding for me all along. He’s not surprised or overwhelmed. He’s aware of everything that I’m experiencing, of all I want and need and of everything he intends to accomplish in my life. And he knows and understands all that my friend is going through as well. He's not forgotten her or left her to fin for herself.
I could sit for hours and “navel gaze”, trying to figure out why God is or isn't doing this or that and what I can possibly do or not do to change it. Instead I’ve decided to be at rest in my unrest, relying on the finished work of Christ and his guarantee that he’s not only called me out of darkness and declared me righteous, but that he’s able to sanctify me and one day bring me to glory. The Spirit and the Son are interceding on my behalf, praying that God’s Kingdom come in my life, that his will be done. Just as the clouds don’t diminish the authenticity and power of the sun, my circumstances and feelings have nothing to do with the reality of his presence and the certainty that his promises will prevail. I may not feel it, sense it or even see it, but God’s at work and he’s got this…..guaranteed.
"God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?" Num 23:19
We can all relate to some degree. We enter into a relationship with our creator and expect him to take charge of our lives in a way that we can understand. But he works in mysterious ways which are often beyond our comprehension. We hit an impasse and don’t know how to pray or what to pray for in our struggle. But he assures us that the Spirit, who lives within our earthen vessels, knows everything about us and is able to pray for us “in accordance with the will of God.”
At this very moment, if we’re children of God, the Spirit of Life is interceding for us. He knows the perfect will of God for our lives and is able to pray effectively toward that end. As my sister-in-law likes to say, “God’s got this!” He’s in control even when we feel out of control, confused and don’t know how to pray. Jesus, our great high priest, is also interceding for us as he sits at the right hand of the Father.
I’ve been so anxious lately about our future, what we’ll do when we leave Korea, how God will provide for our family’s needs. As I sit down each morning to pray I find it increasingly difficult to voice my burdens to God. I know they’re present because I feel the weight of them, but I’ve buried them so deep I’m not sure exactly what’s wrong.
Reading over this verse again today reminds me that I don’t have to understand all that I’m thinking and feeling. My comfort lies in the fact that God knows, and the Spirit has been interceding for me all along. He’s not surprised or overwhelmed. He’s aware of everything that I’m experiencing, of all I want and need and of everything he intends to accomplish in my life. And he knows and understands all that my friend is going through as well. He's not forgotten her or left her to fin for herself.
I could sit for hours and “navel gaze”, trying to figure out why God is or isn't doing this or that and what I can possibly do or not do to change it. Instead I’ve decided to be at rest in my unrest, relying on the finished work of Christ and his guarantee that he’s not only called me out of darkness and declared me righteous, but that he’s able to sanctify me and one day bring me to glory. The Spirit and the Son are interceding on my behalf, praying that God’s Kingdom come in my life, that his will be done. Just as the clouds don’t diminish the authenticity and power of the sun, my circumstances and feelings have nothing to do with the reality of his presence and the certainty that his promises will prevail. I may not feel it, sense it or even see it, but God’s at work and he’s got this…..guaranteed.
"God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?" Num 23:19
