Godâs love protects us from nothing! Yet⊠sustains us in everything!
Jim Finley
I am intrigued by the words I read this morning in a community chat about Godâs love. Iâm not sure which part is more compelling to me: that âGodâs love protects us from nothing!â or that Godâs love âsustains us in everything.â The truth is I have experienced both in my life. I imagine you have as well. The circuitous journey we call life leads us through rocky paths, crises of every kind, dark and dense places that make us feel lost, daunting mountains to climb, roads we take that take us to dead ends, roads to nowhere.
God did not protect me from any of the real-life crises that came my wayâabuse as a child, a serious eye disease in Africa, the loss of my youngest brother, the fire that almost destroyed our home, the kidney disease that almost killed me at least three times, the years of dialysis, the miraculous, but very hard, kidney transplant. I assume God kept watch over all of it, but God did not protect me from it. God did not spare me from the traumatic events that marked my life.
So I have to ask questions, honest questions, about how Godâs love really affects my life. How do I experience Godâs love? How do I sense it in my spirit? Do I really believe that God loves me, especially in my lifeâs dark times? Do I believe that God should spare me from every life danger?
In my experience, Godâs love is elusive, intangible, difficult to hold onto. At times, I donât sense it at all. At times there are no holy âeverlasting armsâ holding me until my darkness turns to light. The only way I sense it at all is by faith, the faith that is âthe substance of all things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.â
(Hebrews 11:1)
To understand this love thing fully, I think I have to read the rest of that chapter in Hebrews, where we find a litany of what important Bible people did by faith. You may remember the list: âBy faith, Abel; By faith, Moses; By faith, Jacob: By faith, Sarah: By faith, Rahab . . .â Many more are listed, each having done some great thing by faith. This chapter, though, presses hard on the things that can happen to the faithful ones. Listen to this part:
Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two,[l] they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormentedâof whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised . . .
Oh, my! They did everything right. Their faith was commendable. Yet, they did not see the promise they expected, the great and good things that would come to them because they were faithful. In the end, did they hold on to their faithâwithout experiencing their reward? Without seeing Godâs promise?
What do each of themâMoses, Abraham, Josua, Rahab and the restâ have to do with us? Was their faith like ours? Were their challenges and obstacles like ours? Did they feel void of Godâs love like we sometimes feel? Without the promise the expected, did their faith still hold?
We can only speculate about all those questions. But we do not have to speculate about our own faith. We know it. We live with itâwhen it is strong and when it falters. Did our faith, and Godâs love, protect me from every hurt and every harm? I have to answer, âNo.â Yet, the opposite statementâGod sustains us in everythingâhas been real and true throughout my life, in sunshine and in shadow.
I have not known where I was going or where I would end up most of the time, but I kept walking even in my soulâs dark times. The journey has had its rough passages. The journey has most definitely lead me through the dark. Yet, I have also experienced the sunrise that always comes, day after day without fail. And as for God . . . well, Godâs love has been present, covering me in the warmth of the love that would not let me go, not by sparing me every hard time, but by âsustaining me in everything.â
The beautiful sunrise image at the beginning of this post points me to the thought that Godâs love is a little like the sunriseâa calming light, a gentle light, forever dependable. I have yet to experience even one day without a sunrise. The photo also graces me with the image of footsteps in the snow. Look at them. They are the footprints of someone walking alone, and in truth, we all walk our journeys alone. I imagine, though, that we also depend upon the invisible footprints of the God who leads us on the path.
If we see Godâs holy footsteps at all, we see them by faith. That will always be true, that by faith, we âseeâ the footsteps that go before us. Only by faith can we claim the âevidence of things not seen.â So when all is said and done, I believe this to be true: Godâs love protects us from nothing! Yet⊠sustains us in everything!
I believe it by faith.
I hope you can spend a few quiet moments listening to this beautiful choral arrangement. Pay close attention to the words. This is just one sentence among other words of assurance . . .
I walk in footsteps of Godâs love.
I see His footsteps in the way,
And follow them through darkest night,
Unafraid, I stumble not,
In the glow of perfect light,
I see.
I walk in footsteps of His love,
And find His light leads on before,
Then He gently turns to me,
Softly whispers, “trust Me more,
I walk.
Then as I follow in His way,
My path ahead will brightly shine,
For in His path of guiding light,
I find His footsteps first,
Then mine.
I believe my friend who tells us that sunrises anoint our souls . . . like icons of Godâs presence.
God of the Sparrow đ± By Kathy Manis Findley 