From a prominent theologian of post World War 2.:
“Sometimes during the last war, my students wrote me from the battlefield, and one sentence came up again and again in countless variations: ‘ I am so exhausted from marching, my stomach is so empty, I am so plagued with lice and scratching, I am so tormented by the biting cold of Russia and so dead tired, that I am totally occupied, without the least bit of inner space for any speculative thinking. I haven’t only forgotten Holderlin and the other authors I read in school, I’m even too weak to leaf through the Bible. I am even lazy about the Lord’s prayer. My whole spiritual life is disorganized and ruined. I just vegetate.”
“How should I answer these Young men? I wrote them, “be thankful that the gospel is more than a philosophy. If it were only a philosophy you would just have it only as long as you could keep it in mind and it could afford you intellectual comfort. But, even when you could no longer think about God, He still thinks about you. “
“Precisely that is the miracle of the gospel. We are not the only ones on the way. There is another coming to meet us who knows us. If we can feel nothing of His presence, He still feels for us.” From “How to Believe Again,” Helmut Thielicke
From Luke 19: “there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.
And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way. “
Zacchaeus seeks a look at Jesus, however, Jesus seeks an audience with him. Surprisingly Jesus addresses Zacchaeus first. “Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.”
“And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. ” Luke 19:6
Luke 15:20 tells the story of a wayward son seeking again to join his Father. ” And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off,
–his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. ”
Father saw his son, Father had compassion, Father ran toward his son, Father fell on his neck and Father kissed his son.
Friends, we can seek an interaction with Our God because He ever lives to make intercession for us. (See Hebrews 7). We can live in assurance because He will never leave nor forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5), He is an ever present help in time of trouble. Think on these words of David:
Psalm 9:9 “The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.”
Psalm 27:5 “For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. and Psalm_31:7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;””
Psalm 139:2 “Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.”
In closing: “He gives us the brightness of morning as the day begins, He wraps us in His peace when the type-writers clatter and the telephone rings all day long. And in the evening I can let myself drop, because His hand is always beneath me. ” Thielicke
Beloved , ” Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. Psalm 139:7-8
:Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. “Psalm 139:2-3
Lastly, “In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.” Isaiah_63:9
He thinks about you!
love ya
