Serving An Invisible God

As I sit here listening to the lyrics of this song, I began to feel deep longing for the companionship of another human being. But, this particular song emphasized how necessary it is for believers to trust and confide in Jesus; an invisible Savior. I think that has been, and continues to be one of the most difficult things about my Christian walk. My putting full and complete faith in someone I cannot even see. It’s tough! And regardless of how many Sunday mornings I attend service, how many messages I hear, or how much advice I seek, this is still the hardest part of my faith. How is it even humanly possible to trust in something or someone we can’t see? If I were to be seated at a table with no visible chairs, would I really risk the chance of falling for what I could not tangibly see? Well, this is what our faith in God is all about. And even though the logical notion of it all seems far beyond reality at times, I am comforted by the words of scripture.

In Hebrews 4:15-16 it reads:

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (NIV).

Truly comprehending these words has softened the blow of my human frailty. So many times as believers we buy into the lie that we can’t approach God with foolishness; reasoning that an Almighty God wouldn’t want to deal with our, seemingly, insignificant life crises. But, today I learned for certain that this is a lie from Satan. The above passage instructs that we should approach God’s throne of grace boldly, accepting His mercy and grace in our time of longing need. And why, because we have a high priest who has felt, dealt with, and overcome the things that we bring to God in prayer. So your unpacking of emotional, physical, and spiritual baggage is not uncommon to God. This is not His first rodeo when it comes to hearing pleas for mercy and grace!

As I continued reading Hebrews I stopped at 5:8-9. The words in this passage literally jumped off the page, saturating my soul with pure unadulterated assurance. These verses read:

“Although [Christ Jesus] was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (NIV; emphasis mine).

Wow! This let me know, undoubtedly, that Christ has felt my longing as well. There were indeed times that He had difficulty trusting the plan of His invisible Father. But His secret to success was simply believing that God had His back. He trusted God’s love for Him. And I believe that there were times when Jesus looked around on the earth (as I’ve also done) and asked himself what would be my alternative. If I were to stop trusting God because at the moment my feelings are hurt, I’m wounded, I’m broken and vulnerable, or I am confused, what then would I turn my trusting to? And once we, as Christ did, understand that faith in God has bought the most longevity, out-of-this-world miraculous events, spontaneity, unspeakable joy, and peace that surpasses all understanding, we’ll look boldly towards heaven and receive grace and mercy to continue the race. All the while, happily proclaiming to Abba Father, “Let thine will be done!”

Nikki D