the God who...
This pandemic sure caught me off guard, but it didn’t surprise God. Not in the least. He’s known about COVID-19 for all of time. Because God is personal, because He calls us to relationship with Him, He knows everything about me. He knows my history with fear and anxiety (you can read what I’ve learned about fear here). He was able to see what each of us needed, what each of us needs right now, and what each of us will need in the days to come.
I spent these late fall and winter months reading through the first five books of the Bible. In January I started copying the Psalms. I hadn’t ever planned to combine these two different sections of Scripture, but I’m so glad that I did. I have been immeasurably blessed to spend time reading through the early history of God’s people while simultaneously reading praises sung to Him for generations. I can’t help but look back and see the hand of God working to prepare me for these present circumstances.
The first 5 books of the Bible are all written by Moses. Genesis tells of the creation of the universe as well as the beginnings of the history of God’s chosen people. Exodus begins with the Israelites enslaved in the land of Egypt and tells of their miraculous rescue by God who saw them and knew (Exodus 2:25). I love that. El Roi, the God who sees, as Hagar called Him in Genesis 16:13, saw His people and He knew. He just knew. He knew that they needed rescuing. He knew that they needed to see Him work miracles. He knew they needed a leader. He knew they would need provisions. He knew they would need food and water. And He provided for their every need.
Roughly the last two-thirds of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy deal with the Israelite’s time in the wilderness between leaving Egypt and entering the Promised Land. As they wander through the wilderness, God remains with them, despite their grumbling, despite their disobedience. As they wander, over the course of 40 years, God continues to interact with them. He keeps talking to Moses, who keeps telling this wandering people what God has told him. Honestly there’s a lot of repetition. There’s a temptation to just skim over it. Don’t! We still struggle with the same uncertainty and sin that the Israelites did. They needed to hear it multiple times. So do we!
Here are a couple of things that I’ve learned over the past few months that have been so helpful to me over these last 2 weeks.
As we face uncertainty, as we face trials and hardships, we need to remember who God is and what He has done. Over and over again throughout this section of scripture God says some version of,
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
God wanted the Israelites to remember what He had done for them. First, so that they would fear Him, keeping Him in the proper place and not worshiping other gods. Second, God wanted the Israelites to learn that they could trust Him. The Israelites had spent over 400 years living in Egypt. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph had long since departed the earth. These were a people who didn’t have the personal relationship that we now have access to with God. It was important that they experience and remember that He was faithful to them, that He had worked for their good.
When I start to fear what might happen, when I feel completely out of control, I come back to this. I look back and I remember all the ways that God has been faithful in my life. I remember the storms that He has brought me through. I remember the prayers that He has answered. I remember the times that it felt like I was waiting on Him forever (said in teenage dramatic fashion). I remember that He has worked good in me through the trials that I’ve walked through, that He’s used the pruning to grow fruit. I remember verses like James 1:2-3.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. ”
When I remember the ways that I’ve seen God be faithful in my life, in the lives of friends and family, it reminds me that I can fully trust whatever He is doing.
The next thing that I’ve seen throughout the first five books of the Bible, as well as the Psalms, is God’s character revealed. Beloved, when you are feeling the feels, when the stress of it all is keeping you up at night, spend some time reflecting on the character of God. List them. Choose one and expound on how you’ve seen evidence of it in your life. Support one of His characteristics with Scripture. Thank Him for Who He is and for revealing Himself to you.
Finally, all throughout the Psalms and frequently in those first five books (and plenty of other places in the Bible), we get to see people cry out to God in fear, in frustration, in despair. And God meets them there. He is patient, long suffering. His love is steadfast.
“In His vast kindness toward us, in His knowledge of our frailty, God lets us ask our questions.”
We don’t offend God by coming to Him, even with our questions, even when we complain. He wants to meet us. He wants to comfort us (2 Corinthians 1:3). He wants to be our refuge (Proverbs 18:10, Psalm 46:1). He wants to give us good gifts, and He does (Matthew 7:11)!
