My Fondest Thought
As if we needed to be reminded, psychologists conclude that humans and our brains tend to “default” to negativity instead of positivity. That, in a moment, more people would see the glass half-empty than half-full. With how many passages in the Bible concern themselves with lines like, “do not worry,” “be strong and courageous,” “walk with God/the Spirit,” and so on – it should be of no surprise to us when psychologists say that worrying is the default function of the brain. For many of us it is a struggle to rise above this setting. It's just so hard to live in moments free of worry and burden. Now some of this is because how much each of us have to do in a day or hour. But, I think it has more to do with how little we sometimes think of or acknowledge the presence of God. And so, I would like to share with you one of my fondest thoughts that helps bring me peace in times of worry and stress:
“God has been waiting on me in this moment so that He could meet me when I need Him most.”
Allow me to break this down:
God has been waiting on me
One main Christian belief is that God exists outside of time and space. In other words, he is eternal. When the Bible says, “In the beginning,” it is not talking about the beginning of God but the beginning of creation (Gen 1:1). Alongside the belief that God is eternal is the belief that God is also omnipresent, or that God is all present. He is everywhere at all times. The advantage of existing outside of time and space, though it may be hard for us who only know of existence in time and space, is that time isn’t a slowly progressing line of events. My life is moving only in one direction into the future one present moment after another. On the other hand, I’m not even sure God has a timeline except to know where I have been and where I will go. That being the case, I believe I can say that God exists in all moments of all time – he is with me in the moments of my past, here in my present, and beside me in whatever my future holds. My disadvantage in this relationship is that I only know the now-time; God knows the all-time. It is from all of these compounding ideas about God that allows me to conclude this: God has been waiting on me. His present is my future. Just as he is here with me now, he is also there in my past and future triumphs and failures, reminding me of what he has done and waiting on me to catch up.
So that He could meet me when I need Him most
It is this second half of my thought that makes it my fondest. No matter what awaits me in my future, I know that God is there with me. The easiest way to make sense of this is to remember all the times in which God has been enough through the times in my past. Each and every time I have needed him he has been there. This leads me to the faith that he will, again, be there whenever I need him most in the times I have yet to face. The Bible has a version of this thought – “Am I not a God who is both near and far off?” (Jer 23:23) The two words the Lord uses, karove and rachok, relate to both time and space. In other words, God is saying, “Am I not close to you in time and space and far from you in time and space?” Basically, God is confirming my earlier belief that he is both eternal and omnipresent. What is special about this passage is this little nuance about the Hebrew word karove: it is generally used in describing an element of relationship – as in, “Am I not a God who has a close relationship with you?” This nuance of relationship is missing from the second word, rachok. What this tells me is that God exists in all times and all places, he knows the furthest star galaxies away and the smallest part of matter, but he is ALWAYS near to my heart whenever I need him most. He may be far from me but he is always near to my heart and soul.
So I say it again: God has been waiting on me in this moment so that He could meet me when I need Him most. God has been waiting on you too. Whatever incredible experience or heartbreak awaits, God is waiting on you so he can meet you when you need him. My hope is that maybe this thought will become one of your favorites too because there is nothing else that will help replace the energy we waste on worry than having a faith in a God who is always there.