Far Away or Near?
I remember a time when my son Will was about 5 years old and playing shortstop for his tee ball team. He’s a good ball player but that night some kid hit a line drive right off the tee that hit Will right in the face!
It came quick and he simply didn’t have time to react.
Our head coach rushed over immediately to check on him along with one of our assistant coaches and the head umpire. I was also an assistant coach and I was on the field.
But for whatever reason I just decided to stay back for a moment.
I was pretty sure he was ok. Hurting, yes. But nothing too serious. Part of me was praying his mom wouldn’t rush onto the field! The other part of me wanted to see how he would react.
The other coaches were checking on him. Encouraging him. He wouldn’t show any sign of pain. He was trying to be tough.
Finally, after what had only been one or two minutes (but felt like an eternity), I walked over to him. I got down on both knees and without speaking a word he just turned to me and let it all out. The tears he had been holding back from the pain came rushing in.
We had a moment. Then he was able to regain his composure and the game went on.
Closer than we think
I believe in a way that this is what God is like.
That night on the baseball field I couldn’t help but second guessed my decision as his dad to stay back for a moment. But so often this is how God seems to work in our lives.
The tension runs high. We experience great pain. Great loss. Great tragedy. Our marriage is in trouble. Our job is in jeopardy. Or maybe those things have completely gone away and we are left standing in the aftermath. We’re living in the in-between.
We ask, “Where is God?”
Then we wonder, “How long, God, will this last? This suffering?”
We think, “When will this end?”
And we can’t understand, “Why did God let this happen?”
It feels like God is far away.
God Sees, God Knows, and God is Near
At the end of Exodus 13 we find this story…
When Pharaoh finally let the people go, the LORD went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night. And the Lord did not remove the pillar of cloud or pillar of fire from its place in front of the people. – excerpt from Exodus 13.17-22
The people of Israel had been enslaved in Egypt for hundreds of years. I’m sure they often wondered, “Where is God?” But God had seen their suffering and heard their cries. (Exodus 3.7)
The God who was never far away came near.
The God who saw the suffering of His people and heard their cry responded.
The God who freed them was for them. He liberates them He never leaves them! He leads them and calls them to follow Him into freedom.
There is this pillar of cloud by day which becomes a pillar of fire by night and it leads the people. And did you catch that last line?
“And the Lord did not remove the pillar of cloud or pillar of fire from its place in front of the people.”
As long as the people were on their journey this presence of God, this cloud, this fire, led them. This visible presence was with them. Leading them toward freedom.
God doesn’t just lead us out-of, He leads us in-to.
And God wants to lead you out of your Egypt and into His freedom. When He frees you He’s for you. When He liberates you He never leaves you!
The God who sometimes seems far away is waiting to draw near.
