Devotion for October 6, 2020 by Pastor Tim Huff of Holy Trinity:
What Do You See?
COVID steals the ones we love. Jobs “disappear.” Contacts are restricted to virtual only. Innocent people killed in the streets. When devastating circumstances rock our lives, even the most faithful among us can be shaken with doubt. We cry out “Why are you allowing this God? Are you really good? Do you even exist?”
Maybe you have been disappointed with God. You no longer feel God’s presence, so you wonder – has God abandoned me? Abandoned the world?
With all that is going on in our lives and the world many of us have had these feelings and thoughts. Know this God is not afraid of our questions. Scripture is filled with stories of individuals, tribes and nations asking these same questions.
The prophet Habakkuk had doubts and questions for God. In Habakkuk 1:1-4, surrounded by violence, injustice, wrongdoing, destruction, strife and conflict, Habakkuk cries out to God:
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?
Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?
(Habakkuk 1:2)
God does not condemn him for asking. God answers and gives him hope. God explains to Habakkuk that God has a plan so amazing that he wouldn’t even believe it
Look at the nations and see! Be astonished! Be astounded!
For a work is being done in your days that you would not believe if you were told.
(Habakkuk 1:5).
Wherever we go on this earth, God is there. God is there to guide, strengthen, and comfort us. We cannot go where God is not. We might not “see” God, but God is everywhere. That is incredibly good news.
Hosea 6:3 says:
“Let us come to know YHWH intimately, And pursue that knowledge zealously.
And as sure as the sun rises in the morning, God will come, and will return to us like the rains of winter, like the rains of spring that water the earth.”
(The Inclusive Bible)
Hosea’s simple but profound insight to acknowledge God reminds us God is near and at work in our lives. When we acknowledge God, we remember God’s presence in both the joys and sorrows, trials and successes big or small of our lives.
We have a relationship with God built on God’s promise of Love covered with Faith and Hope. Today I encourage us to take some time to reflect on where God is in our lives right now and to listen and look for God’s presence.
Pastor Tim
