Healing Rays of Righteousness

In response to last week’s blog, “My God, Why …?” a reader questioned; “there has to be something other than God’s promises. In those dark moments, promises appear to be empty and mocking. Do you have anything else to offer?” The following is my answer.

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Yes, God’s promises are empty and useless until we choose to “trust” the promises as our only lifeline and draw hope and life from them.

My dark times of feeling forsaken, led me to the importance of two 3-letter words “but” and “yet.” These two small words turn the tables on every situation, and when read in the Scriptures regarding God, they make an immensely significant impact on our relationship with Him.

In Psalm 22, I noted the word “yet” in verse three and the words “trust” and “trusted” in verse four. In my contemplation, I remembered the promise to Joshua, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5).

Then I remembered how this promise guided and encouraged God’s people throughout their history. And I also remembered that this promise is affirmed to God’s people in the New Testament. (Hebrews 13:5-7). To this promise of God’s faithful love I cling, even when I cry “My God, Why.”

In Isaiah 64, the prophet Isaiah speaks of agony and hopelessness until we come to verse eight. And again, the first word, “Yet,” is the most important word in the entire text. “Yet you, Lord, are our Father.”

This declaration of faith is made in spite of the fact that there is no external evidence to support it. There is nothing left in the life of this captive people to suggest to them that they were still being cared for by a loving God, who loved them like a Father.

Being exiled from their homeland, they had nothing. Everything was gone, including their hopes and dreams for family and a future. There is nothing left! Nothing but that one little word “yet.” 

And that “Yet you, Lord, are our Father,” brings us full circle back to our own faith. “We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” The glorious truth is that in God’s hands we are never without hope. It is the skill of the potter to see in a glob of mud the lovely creation which will emerge when that mud is worked upon the wheel.

It is only the love of God that can take the deepest darkness and despair that life can throw at us and use it to remold and shape our lives into new creations, with new life and new possibilities.

But for this to happen, God’s promise and our trust must be married in a mutual covenant of LOVE that assures us the needed physical, emotional, and spiritual resources for nurture, recovery, and healing through every frightening, distressing, chaotic darkness of “My God, Why?”

To illustrate; If I wanted to fly to the west coast and I knew the promise of the airline company that they would fly me there safely. That promise is empty and worthless until I trust the promise enough to purchase a ticket and check-in at the airport? But even that is not enough action to make the promise effective. I must board the plane and take a seat, fully trusting that the plane is mechanically capable, and the crew properly trained to fly me to the west coast. So, it is with God’s promises. Trust required!

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4) 

Thanks for making me think deeper. – Ray G

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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – February 14, 2024 – www.geigler13.wordpress.com – Ray M. Geigley