Our three dimensional world


When things are tough, it is easy to get "tied" to our current situation, and think that things will never get better.  It is easy to feel as if God has turned his back.

Such was the case with David when he wrote, "How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me?  How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?  How long will my enemy triumph over me?" - Psalm 13:1-2

And who can blame David for feeling this way?  After being anointed King, he spent the next few years as a harpist playing music for King Saul.  But when people in his kingdom started to praise David, Saul became jealous and started hunting David, trying to kill him.

And then there was Naomi, who after her husband and sons died, felt sure that God had turned His back on her.  Returning to her home town, she abandoned the name Naomi (which means "pleasant" or "gentle") and said, "Don't call me Naomi, call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.  I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.  Why call me Naomi?  The Lord has afflicted me; the almighty has brought misfortune upon me." - Ruth 1:20-22

And finally, who can forget Job?  After a series of tragic events caused him to lose his children, and his wealth, Job was afflicted with painful sores.  When his friends came to console him, Job told them that God had abandoned him and he said, "If I go east, he is not there, and if I go west, I cannot perceive him.  When he is at work to the north, I cannot see him; when he turns to the south I cannot find him." - Job 23:8-9

But the thing is - in ALL of these stories, God has NOT abandoned them.  In the case of David, God protects him and when Saul dies, David becomes King and is a great ruler.  In the case of Naomi, her daughter-in-law stays with her, and is noticed by a wealthy landowner named Boaz.  The family is redeemed.  And finally, in the case of Job, he is restored and God gives him twice as much as he had before.

See, while we focus only on the present, God is playing the "long game".  While we see and experience life in a linear fashion., I am convinced that God sees things in three dimensions - the beginning, middle, and end - all at once. 

God's words to Job in Job 38:1-41 remind me that I am not God...and that he is so much greater than I so often give him credit for.  

So, when I feel as if He has abandoned me, I focus on this set of verses:

"My adversaries taunt me, as if crushing my bones, while all day long they say to me, 'Where is your God?'  Why my soul, are you so dejected, why are you in such turmoil?  Put your home in God, for I will still praise him, my savior and my God." - Psalm 42:10-11

"Be strong and courageous; don't be terrified or afraid of them.  For the Lord your God is the one who will go with you; he will not leave you or abandon you." - Deuteronomy 31:6

Today - let us remember that God did NOT abandon David, Naomi, or Job - and He will not abandon us.  








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