Listen:
“The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.” (Zephaniah 3:17)
Reflect:
Sitting on the deck overlooking a vista that stretches out for miles, I found myself a witness to declarations of emerald green, sage and hints of autumn yellow. In those spacious moments, I felt the reality of God surround me! He’s always there, I know, but I tend to get lost in the here and now of my life and, too often, lose hold of the Divine Presence that offers me its consolations of love every minute of every day. With beauty His backdrop, the Eternal, Immortal, Invisible God interrupted my temporal reality and offered me a gift. Himself!
Have you ever noticed that life is always a blend of the temporal and eternal? Our present, physical circumstances and the Kingdom of God in our midst! We live in two realities all the time. One that we can see and touch, and the other — Invisible. When trials come, it is easy to live disintegrated (pulled apart) and narrowed to experiencing life in the temporal. Worry likes to pound its fist and insist we define reality strictly by what we can see and know. But any perspective void of the God in our midst will confine the soul and cut off hope.
I want the Truth of God, wise and powerful, kind and good, “over, above, in and through,” to infuse my days with drips of eternity! Don’t you? I want God to break in and declare that He is always with me and that my life isn’t just about my life. It is about a victorious warrior who is building a Kingdom right in the middle of my “here and nows.”
Prayer of Response:
“Thank you, Father, that you are near — next to me every minute of every day! Awaken me to this reality, and help me enter into your good company today. Amen.”
Questions to Ponder:
- How do you pull the reality of God into your day-to-day life?
- Do you need to remember that God is with you?
- Does “busy” keep you from noticing God in your midst?
- When was the last time you felt the reality of God surround you?
—Submitted by Judy Villanueva
Judy lives with her husband in Colorado, near the kids and grands. She completed her masters at Fuller Theological Seminary, is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Spiritual Director, and writer. Her Bible reflections can be found at listeningforlove.net