Whenever we’re suffering or see suffering, it’s easy to question God. People use it as an excuse not to believe. They point a finger and say things like, “How can a loving God allow __“? (fill in the blank). I’ll leave the answering of that up to the theologians and others who are better qualified. I’ll also suggest people read “A Case For Christ” by Lee Strobel as a starting point. But then, I’ll add my two cents…
In my specific situations, even when I turned my back on God, He stilled watched over me. I couldn’t see it at the time; only after years of submerging myself into His word am I now realizing all that God has done for my family and me. He has a plan for me (and for each of us), but He let me make my own decisions, my own “bad” decisions, until I finally realized that I need Him. Once I started asking Him to guide me, my life turned around.
I think that’s why the Footprints in the Sand poem is so meaningful to me. It fits my life and my walk with God.
Footprints in the Sand
Author: Unknown
One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.
After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.
This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
“Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You’d walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”
He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you.”
Question: Where was God?
Answer: With you and me, always.
The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ Yet despite this word you did not believe the Lord your God, who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go.
Deuteronomy 1:30-33 ESV
Please join me this week in praising God for His provisions. Pray that we may be image-bearers for Christ and that others will see our thankfulness for what God provides. Pray that God uses us to soften the hearts of the unbelievers we meet, that we can be a light, shining the way to knowing Him and resting in His grace and mercy.
