WHEN YOU FEEL ALARMED
In my alarm I said, "I am cut off from your sight!" Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help. Ps. 31:22, N.I.V.
Little Suzy had wandered away from Mommy's side at the large department store! Suddenly noticing that Mommy was nowhere in sight, she began running down one aisle after another crying, "Mommy! Mommy, where are you?" Hearing her little daughter in distress, Mother began calling back to her. Full of alarm, Suzy pleaded, "Find me!"--which Mommy did in short order. Soothingly, Mother inquired, "Why were you so afraid?" "You couldn't see me!" answered Suzy.
Young children often feel safe as long as we can see them. Their dependency is touching; they believe we will keep them from all harm. If we can't see them, however, they fear we might miss the danger that threatens them. Maybe that's part of the reason some like a light left on in the bedroom at night.
There is a little of a child left in all of us. Becoming a Christian does not instantly remove these latent feelings of vulnerability. We sometimes feel a need for God to reassure us that He's looking. Appreciating our feelings, God comforts us through His Word with texts such as "The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love" (Ps. 33:18, N.I.V.) and "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him" (2 Chron. 16:9, N.I.V.).
Yet occasionally times come in our experience that are as dark as a moonless night. We become alarmed and, in our despair, wonder if we have done something to make Him turn away. "God has forsaken me!" we cry. We begin to expend all our energies trying to figure out what we did and how to get God to turn back to us. But it is a misconception to think that when we do wrong God quits watching out for us. That's what Job's friends believed. And God plainly said they were wrong (Job 42:7)!
Whatever the reasons for our becoming alarmed--whether we've really done something wrong or just feel that we are "cut off from [God's] sight"--we may trust that God will always hear our cry when we call to Him. As with Suzy's mother, anger is never the issue. He will "find" us and take us into His arms of love.
In my alarm I said, "I am cut off from your sight!" Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help. Ps. 31:22, N.I.V.
Little Suzy had wandered away from Mommy's side at the large department store! Suddenly noticing that Mommy was nowhere in sight, she began running down one aisle after another crying, "Mommy! Mommy, where are you?" Hearing her little daughter in distress, Mother began calling back to her. Full of alarm, Suzy pleaded, "Find me!"--which Mommy did in short order. Soothingly, Mother inquired, "Why were you so afraid?" "You couldn't see me!" answered Suzy.
Young children often feel safe as long as we can see them. Their dependency is touching; they believe we will keep them from all harm. If we can't see them, however, they fear we might miss the danger that threatens them. Maybe that's part of the reason some like a light left on in the bedroom at night.
There is a little of a child left in all of us. Becoming a Christian does not instantly remove these latent feelings of vulnerability. We sometimes feel a need for God to reassure us that He's looking. Appreciating our feelings, God comforts us through His Word with texts such as "The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love" (Ps. 33:18, N.I.V.) and "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him" (2 Chron. 16:9, N.I.V.).
Yet occasionally times come in our experience that are as dark as a moonless night. We become alarmed and, in our despair, wonder if we have done something to make Him turn away. "God has forsaken me!" we cry. We begin to expend all our energies trying to figure out what we did and how to get God to turn back to us. But it is a misconception to think that when we do wrong God quits watching out for us. That's what Job's friends believed. And God plainly said they were wrong (Job 42:7)!
Whatever the reasons for our becoming alarmed--whether we've really done something wrong or just feel that we are "cut off from [God's] sight"--we may trust that God will always hear our cry when we call to Him. As with Suzy's mother, anger is never the issue. He will "find" us and take us into His arms of love.
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