The Hand of God

No matter how good life is right now or how good it can be, we are all going to go through something that is challenging. That is a fact. How we think about those difficult times or navigate them may help us more quickly get on the other side of it.

Recently, I had a semi-tough time. I’ve said it before, but God gives me things (read: everything), and occasionally, I remember to give Him credit for it. In this tough time, I got the image of the hand of God. I thought about how this would look: covering, pushing, pulling, and holding.

Covering. Sometimes, we may not even be aware that it is happening, but think about the hand of God protecting us, shielding us, or covering us. I’ve touched on this before, but I think of traveling. Recently, I had student from main campus ask me a question as I prepared to leave and drive home. I chatted with her and walked her to where she needed to be. Almost immediately, I hear sirens. I told her that she may have saved me from that. When I left, I noticed quite a mess of wrecks (thankfully no one was hurt) on my normal route. I have an alternative route I take sometimes that meanders and winds at a slower pace. Overall, it does not really add any additional time for the drive, so I enjoyed it, gratefully. For me, it’s hard sometimes to think of a tractor on a backroad or delay to getting home as a blessing. We never know what that slower pace and delay may do for us to keep us safe.

Pushing. There are times in which we need a little push or encouragement. Perhaps it’s fear that holds us back from an opportunity or keeps us stuck. Life is full of choices and taking risks. I’m not exactly talking about doing dangerous things. I’m pretty cautious by nature honestly. When we moved to Montana the second time, we had some issues with the pastor at the church we were members. We really toiled over what to do. We decided we would attend other places and picked one to attend on Sunday. Then, it snowed. A lot. We ultimately decided to go to the “church on the hill.” We never made it to the other church. We got involved. We grew. Many of those people became family. Had we not had that conflict or had it not snowed, who knows? I just know we never saw it coming. We’re forever grateful for the push.

Pulling. In my recent funk, I knew a lot of things to do to help myself. It was still hard to do them. In fact when I thought about them, I often chose not to do them. I also know I had people praying for me, particularly my wife. Thankfully it was not my lowest low. I did make one choice that seemed to help: listen to contemporary Christian radio. Granted, there are times with either station, Klove or Air1, it feels like one could literally wait years and hear some of the same songs after a long break. Still, I persisted. In some of my readings lately, there were emphases on worship. In another example, my family and I went with a church to a canoe trip. My wife was the only one who had canoed. I could not swim at the time (and still can’t very well); my youngest couldn’t, either. We hit a rush, went into a downed tree pretty quickly, and capsized. My youngest was trapped under the canoe. I looked at my wife to get him and saw the panic on her face. I reached underneath, grabbed him, and pulled him out safely. To this day, I think God used my hand to save my kid.

Holding. There are times in which we just simply need touch or to be held like we once were as babies, like a warm blanket on a crisp morning. I think of grief during these times. We may be completely unaware that we’re being held. Imagine, though, God’s hand being behind us, keeping us from sliding further away and steadily holding us in place. On the surface, we’re still in it. We’re still feeling what we feel. We’re in the muck and mud of things that truly help us focus only on the immediate yuck. Going deeper, though, we don’t see or feel God’s hand holding us in place, steadying us.

Maybe when the hand of God is in our lives, it’s hard to notice in the moment. We get caught in that muck and mud of whatever it is we’re going through. It’s hard to see our way out of it. All that we focus on is right then and there, feeling stuck, sad, or apathetic. Or maybe we can see it after the fact (I call this “connecting the dots”). Regardless, I like to think of the hand of God covering, pushing, pulling, and holding us. I’m not always able to do it in the moment. Often for me, it’s after the fact. I see this as connecting to God’s presence and seeking Him first. Answered prayers often do not look like we expect, which kicks up a whole other thing we have navigate.

In the meantime, see if you can be on the lookout for the hand of God. I think there are times in my life in which He has been doing all of these at once (covering, pushing, pulling, and holding). For me, it’s an incredible piece of comfort and peace in an often uncomfortable and chaotic world…to look for His hand and know it’s there.

#life #problems #chaos #muck #mud #troubles #God #peace #Jesus #prayer