God Is with Us
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Isaiah 41:10
When our oldest daughter was a newborn and we were adjusting to being parents for the very first time, we hated hearing her precious little voice grow into a full-blown cry. She would belt out a pretty powerful cry and our hearts would ache as we wondered how something so loud could come from someone so tiny.
We were blessed with an older couple who loved the Lord and they served as mentors in our lives and eventually became so much more. They encouraged us to take the time to learn to respond to our new little bundle of joy in wisdom. So, we disciplined ourselves so that if she were to cry, we made sure that she was safe, fed, burped and clean. If all of these boxes were checked, we knew that she just wanted our attention. Like you and I, she just wanted and needed the comfort of being held and loved. At other times it wasn’t the comfort of being held and loved that she wanted. It was something altogether different. God would reveal the magnitude of her second need to me in a meaningful way that each of us can identify with as human beings.
One day early in the evening as she lay napping in her crib, I was fast at work, cooking dinner, while my husband was at work. I could see her sleeping in her crib through our open doors that were just across from our kitchen. As soon as I started marinating the chicken that I planned to cook, I watched her as she started to become restless. I continued to cook, knowing that I had made sure that all was well with her before I had put her down for her nap. Still, she continued to grow more and more restless. Eventually, she awoke and her restlessness turned into low soft cries as she searched for me, but could not see me. It was clear that she thought that I may have left her and she needed reassurance that I was still with her. Very quickly, her soft cries turned into incredibly loud wails. I could still see her, quite clearly and I wanted to go to her, but I was up to my elbows in raw meat. So, I continued to cook, but as I continued to prepare dinner, I began to speak to her from a distance, comforting her and reassuring her that although she could not see me, she was not alone and I assured her that I was with her, watching her every move. It took a little while, but as she began to hear and listen to my voice, she became calmer and her wailing turned into soft gentle cries. Confident that I had not abandoned her and that I was still with her, her soft cries eventually turned into soft cooing and babbling. Thankfully, I watched as her peace was restored.
In that moment as I stood in the kitchen, it was if God Himself had pulled back a curtain of great revelation for me. Here on this earth, we are each like my newborn daughter was in the above scenario, searching desperately for our heavenly Father, God. We find ourselves in many instances, afraid and looking desperately for God’s presence because we may not be hearing or seeing him at work in our lives. Still, God is present and even when we struggle to hear and see him, he is with us, working things out in in our lives. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).
By Sherlin H. Lewis