But Where Are You?

Have you ever shown up for an appointment only to find that the person with whom you were to meet was not there? Perhaps you called them on the phone and when they answered you said something like, “I’M HERE! WHERE ARE YOU?” Such situations arise due to busy lives that can cause one to completely forget an appointment. People can also get so caught up in something else that a scheduled appointment slips past before they realize it. Then there are times when one simply gets held up along the way, causing them to be late. However there are also times when others just don’t have enough consideration to follow through on what was formerly agreed. When that is the case, are we left with a sense that we or what was to be done are just not that important to them? I would say that God has more right to feel this way when He has been slighted and forgotten than any of us. Would you agree?

A few days ago we noted a comparison between Isaiah 6:8 and Isaiah 65:1. Discussing that comparison with one of the teens (Kaci Flock) in our congregation yesterday morning, she suggested the encouragement in the sense of a mathematic equation: “Here am I” + “Here am I” = “Here are we”! When that “we” includes God we have begun to get the most important relationship and the equipping for life on the right track. Discussing this equation and the Isaiah text with my wife yesterday afternoon is what developed the further thought for today.

Consider again verse one of that sixty-fifth chapter along with the next verse. These words of God given through His prophet Isaiah read…

“(1) I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘HERE AM I, HERE AM I,’ to a nation that was not called by my name. (2) I SPREAD OUT MY HANDS ALL THE DAY TO A REBELLIOUS PEOPLE, WHO WALK IN A WAY THAT IS NOT GOOD, FOLLOWING THEIR OWN DEVICES;” ( Isaiah 65:1-2 ESV)

The people of Judah -- who should have known God better than anyone -- were choosing to go about doing their own thing. They were not walking in the way of God. They were not following Him. They were not meeting God where God was to be met. There they were, living in the place where God had placed His Name, and yet HIS PRESENCE was not being acknowledged. How many times could God have said to His people, “I’M HERE! WHERE ARE YOU?” Writing to the church in Rome, Paul noted this text with regard to his own Jewish brethren. ( Romans 10:20-21)

The refusal to MEET GOD WHERE HE IS continues to play itself out in the world today. Even some who say they want to meet Him only want to do so on their own terms (or turf) rather than His. “I’M HERE! WHERE ARE YOU?” How many times could God have asked that of us? Is He asking it now? May we acknowledge God’s outspread hands and allow them to envelope every aspect of our life. We can’t be lost when we live life WHERE HE IS! Acknowledging life being lived IN HIS PRESENCE now will help keep our focus fixed so as to not miss that final appointment we will have with relation to our eternity with Him. Where we are now does have a relation to where we will be then.

Have a great day KEEPING LIFE’S APPOINTMENTS WITH GOD!
Carl

See other teEn-MAIL on God's Presence