“12 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13)
Sometimes life just happens. Sometimes the bottom just falls out of our day, our week, our month and we’re left wondering what just happened. Sometimes we feel hung out to dry, on the wrong side of the road from hope, or caught in a rip tide. But a life of faith is a life that moves from the muck to the damp ground to the dry ground to the green grass--and not necessarily in that order! A life of faith knows, believes, trusts that God is at work even on the worst of days and takes a step forward in faith.
Paul says we should “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” This says to me that there will be days that our faith is tried, days when we doubt that what we’re doing is really worth it, days when we wonder where God is in the midst of the mess we see and feel.
If you’re in that place, trust that God is there with you. If you are familiar with the poem called “Footprints” you know that on the worst of days God is carrying us and that’s why there’s only one set of feet in the sand (as much as I like the “sand people ride single file to hide their numbers” image that’s going around right now) Sometimes we can’t see God because we’re being held very, very close. If you’re in that place of distress, take one step forward, one step closer to knowing.
Sometimes life just happens. Sometimes the bottom just falls out of our day, our week, our month and we’re left wondering what just happened. Sometimes we feel hung out to dry, on the wrong side of the road from hope, or caught in a rip tide. But a life of faith is a life that moves from the muck to the damp ground to the dry ground to the green grass--and not necessarily in that order! A life of faith knows, believes, trusts that God is at work even on the worst of days and takes a step forward in faith.
Paul says we should “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” This says to me that there will be days that our faith is tried, days when we doubt that what we’re doing is really worth it, days when we wonder where God is in the midst of the mess we see and feel.
If you’re in that place, trust that God is there with you. If you are familiar with the poem called “Footprints” you know that on the worst of days God is carrying us and that’s why there’s only one set of feet in the sand (as much as I like the “sand people ride single file to hide their numbers” image that’s going around right now) Sometimes we can’t see God because we’re being held very, very close. If you’re in that place of distress, take one step forward, one step closer to knowing.
Every day I am reminded that each day is a mystery waiting to unfold. We have our plans, both long term and short term, and rarely do the actual days we live go according to the plans we have made. On days when I think I know what God wants from me, I am reminded that I am still seeking, still walking forward, still listening, still one step closer to knowing. On days when I am prepared to embrace the mystery that is God, I am reminded of how vast that mystery can be and how much I have left to learn.
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