The In and Out of it All

In my reading this morning, I reached the story of Abraham, Sarah, and one of our favorites, Hagar. My mind stayed on the rejection Hagar must have felt. She was 'just a servant' in Abraham and Sarah's house. When she became Abraham's "wife" nothing really changed much for her, except that she became pregnant. I was thinking about all the rejection she had to have felt as I reread her story again.

Then, my mind skipped ahead as I thought about how I'll be reading the story of Leah and Rachel as I continue to move through Genesis. What rejection these ladies went through, right? I thought a lot about how God met them where they were and how He touched and orchestrated their lives. I started thinking of others in the scriptures who endured rejection and could have let it stop them from being - from loving - from serving - from anything really.

My mind stopped on the three Hebrew children and Daniel. They were captives. God delivered the mighty three from the fiery furnace, right? And Daniel was delivered straight from the lion's den. Remarkable and amazing stories of real faith heroes in scriptures. But did you ever stop to think that after their great deliverances they were still captives?

God met these heroes in the fire, in the lion's den, at the well, etc. But He didn't change their natural circumstances, they remained. How we would be amiss if we didn't recognize God's power intervening in situations even if our circumstances never change. We may never know why God intervenes when and how He does sometimes and then other times seems silent. Maybe He's just sitting there looking and waiting for those perfect spots to step out of eternity and touch us in time.

Our heroes continued to trust God for the day-to-day even after God intervened in a single situation without changing their overall circumstances. God saved them in their situation - not out of it. God can walk into our today too and make a difference. And while our situations remain the same day after day, He is always right here to act on our behalf and meet our most basic natural and supernatural needs.

Today, I will think about how He intervenes for me so often. I'll go back and think about how He changed situations I thought couldn't change, how He rearranged things that I thought would stay the same. My heart will be thankful for His interventions in my life and I'll meditate on His continued goodness and care as I trust Him for one more day. Will you join me?

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