His Love Unfailing

There was an article recently on the internet about a pastor who decided to spend a year as an atheist and at the end of the year, he no longer believed in God.  And I wondered how could that happen?

I don’t understand how you can just turn God “off”.  God is not just the one I go to worship on Sunday, or the one I turn to in times of need.   He is an energy that runs through my entire life.  I see how you could pretend to not believe in order to understand a point of view.  “Now, if I were an atheist, I would think thus and such about that situation.”  But I don’t see how you could actually walk away from it.

And then I remembered a conversation I had with my son regarding faith.  His contention was that if you know, absolutely know, that there is a God then that is not faith.  And I probably should have said that absolutely knowing did not rule out faith, because faith was acting on the knowing, on the belief in God.

But I didn’t.  What I said was Don’t you have things that you know in your head and things that you know in your heart?   And he said No.

 

If you turn off your heart and only listen with your head, you could lose a lot of things.  Like love and intuition, and maybe God. 

If you chose not to see God, you will not see Him.

How could God let this man go?  Why isn’t God just shaking him and saying I am Here.  Maybe He is.

The man let Him go first.  Romans 1:18-32, the verses that some people use to condemn gay people, talk about people who used to know God but turned their backs on Him, and God, rather than grab them back, has decided to let them sink as low as they can.  Maybe when they hit rock bottom, they will remember that God was there for them before, and they will call on Him again.

 I hope that this is what happens to this man.  I hope that he remembers God.  I hope he does it before something really bad happens to him.  I pray that that happens. 

I was reminded that recently I was praying that the Lord handle certain situations for me, but I was really just going through the motions of belief.  I was essentially saying I am asking You to do this because I want to believe that You will, because I am supposed to believe that You will, but my past experience is telling me that You’re not going to.  And He said to me, How can I do this for you, when you have no faith that I will?

It was back on me.  How many times did Jesus tell the person He had healed that it was actually their faith that did the work?

 

I prefer to attend services in Chapels on the backside of racetracks.  For one thing, I like to go where the congregation is so small that I know everyone’s name.  Generally, know where to find them during the week if I need to.  One is in Barn A3, one in Barn C7 and one in the Racing office.  And I like that people don’t dress to the nines, some of us show up straight from the barn.  We’re not there to impress anyone.  And I like a group so small and informal that people aren’t afraid to speak up, to give a testimony, to shout Hallelujah or Amen.

 

But recently, my husband and I have been attending a huge church.  This is like Church on the Industrial Scale.  We went there originally because he was instructed by the Lord to put $10 in a collection plate, and this church has three services on Sunday, and one of them is at 12:30.  It’s close to the apartment, and we don’t have to get up early.  That was initially its selling point.

 

 

But we are enjoying it. They have an excellent music and worship service before the sermon. And while small churches are still my preferred home, it is so inspiring to be among 500 people, all with their arms raised, swaying and singing and loving the Lord altogether. To become part of that, to feel it, to know that we are united in that love, that I can love every one of them and they me.

I had an amazing experience there just yesterday. During the praise and worship, we were singing a song that had lyrics that caught my attention. I wish I remembered it exactly so I could quote it, but it was a beautiful song, and the chorus said something like Your love unfailing. When I sang that I had this thought that He is unfailing for some people, but I am living in a hole, my career is going nowhere, my dreams are all being put to bed, and every time I step into a new endeavor thinking this is the time it’s going to work, it falls apart, just like all the other times, so He has failed me. And Jesus reached down to me and He said, I have never failed you.

You can think I’m crazy if you want to, but Jesus reached me, and He hugged me, and He reassured me that He is always there, He has always been there, He will always be there. Things may not work out the way I want, but it’s not because of Him.

The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.  Exodus 14:14