This is a reflection I posted last year at Thanksgiving. I returned to this post this morning because I was awakened with a familiar first thought that led to a question. Am I where I am supposed to be on this Thanksgiving Day? And if so, is it a different place than where I was only a year ago? Have I traveled through and beyond the valley, the desert, the dark and the deep? Am I, Lord, where you will have me?
God is in the details, in the valleys, in the desert, in the dark and in the deep
by Trinity Seasons on Monday, November 21, 2011 at 9:12am ·
And not only that, He leads us there – puts us in the middle and asks us to trust that only by going through this are we glorifying Him.
This is what I learned – re-learned, from Him today as the Spirit once again stopped me mid stream in the reading from the Psalter, Psalm 106 – which is a long one, retelling Israel’s history with God. The image that burst onto my own personal screen causing me to lift my eyes from the text and to look up was elicited by these two lines:
9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry; he led them through the deep as through a desert. 10 So he saved them from the hand of the foe, and delivered them from the hand of the enemy.
I am struggling with how to express what I ‘saw” when I read this. It was more like I recognized something…HE LED THEM THROUGH THE DEEP AS THROUGH A DESERT. But He not only led them, he made the deep, the desert and He willed that they (I) go through it…not around and not later, but now and through and trusting Him all along.
Can you imagine? Have I trusted God through the valley – indeed the pit, that He led me into? I think so. But there have been moments I have questioned whether or not it was by my will that I walked into this dark place or whether or not it was truly God’s will. I have asked that a lot. I have wondered a lot. I have fervently prayed “thy will be done.”
How do we know we are trusting that it is God that puts us in the dark place – indeed, leads us there – and not the Evil One whose purpose it is to separate us from Him?
I pause and am once again struck at how the Spirit moves into our lives through Scripture. Just one little couplet speaks to the totality of a life lived seeking and being sought by our Creator – a life lived giving Him glory. And as I continue in the readings for today, I am awed at how this excerpt from Joel,
3:14 Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
helps weave the truth revealed in the Psalm throughout my being – I know that God is in the dark places, God creates the valleys, puts us at crossroads, throws us headfirst into chaos…God leads me into these valleys and deserts so that I may go through because He knows well better than I that I am indeed simply going through…it is not sheol, not a dead end…but a valley, a journey, a road to somewhere.
It is not the Evil One – it is not my will, not a temptation I am powerless to avoid. I am here by His hand and He is near. I am closer to God when I am trusting HIM in the dark places.
Praise and all thanks to Him for his steadfast love endures for ever. His in me. Mine in Him.
TRINITY SEASONS 