“For the sake of your servant and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made known all these great promises.” – I Chronicles 17:19
The Book of Chronicles recites the story of the people of God and their pilgrimage through the wilderness. Once again, it runs through the saga of their settlement in the new land; this time highlighting faithfulness and omitting some failures. It has the feel of “been there, done that.” It is, after all, the chronicle of the whole sacred journey.
But it serves a greater purpose than simply a story of spiritual heritage. It is the response to two heartfelt questions:
Is God still with us?
How can we be faithful in this new situation?
You see, this was the time of reformation. The exile is over. A handful return to a land now in ruins and the temple destroyed. There is no picking up where they left off. Those left behind moved on and adapted as needed. Nothing is the same. It is the time of beginning again. And these were the questions on the heart of the people
Is God still with us?
How can we be faithful in this new situation?
The chronicler (perhaps it was Ezra) says Yes. God has always done great things. God is always faithful to the promise. We’ve seen it of old. We’ll see it again.
The answer may be a confident Yes. God is still with us. How we are faithful in new situation is less clear, as it should be. Every generation has to test the practices and question the shape of former days while listening deeply to the heart of the Divine for a glimpses of the new thing that is required for such a time as this.
“Blogging one verse from every book of the bible.”
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God is with us. The world sometimes causes us to question whether He is or not. One thing
I have started to do when I being to think that maybe He is not there is to find things and
situations in the world that are beautiful example of that. One of the ways that helps me with
that is through the Mission and Service booklet that has amazing reminders of
God’s work among the people of the world….in Canada and in many other countries of the world.
And then sometimes in my better moments I start example of how He is at in a larger world and
narrow it down to examples of His presence in my smaller world and then in my personal self.
This takes a little work on my part and in my not so ambitious times I do not do so well with this.
The good thing is God always forgives us when we are overwhelmed and stray off the path.
Is God still with? Many ask this today in the light of the world’s situations.