I just got back from vacation. During vacation I was on a ski-lift ride up a mountain and on my way up I stuck my hands out and flew like Superman…as best as I could. So I had a weird thought…but every now and then when I feel the pressures to get things done or I feel bad about being away I think to myself “what if Superman took a vacation?” Now I am NOT claiming to be a superman…no, no, no…far from it. Let’s ask ourselves a few questions…where does he go away to? Who takes his place? Does he feel bad if something happens when he is away? Do people blame him if something happens and he isn’t there to help? Personally I always wondered how he prioritized which good deed he would do…would he stop a robbery of a bank or a suicidal jumper ??) Does he REALLY vacation? What if something happened where he was? If he stepped in would the local superhero be mad? Was Metropolis close enough to Gotham for Superman to ask his super-friend Batman to lend a hand?
I guess this also makes me ask…how could people be so stupid to NOT recognize Superman as Clark Kent based on wearing glasses or not? My thought is the PEOPLE need the glasses. There has NOT been one time my family and friends have not recognized me based on NOT wearing my glasses…nor did they think I could perform feats of strength when I was not wearing them.
Does Clark Kent wear his glasses in a pool? I DIGRESS…
Plus…did you know that people made Superman into something he never really was? Superman originally did NOT fly…he LEAPED…(granted leaping sounds effeminate). But in the first Superman comic, he did NOT fly…over time the creators added new abilities. Kind of like people who think if you can do “such and such” then you must be able to do “this and that”. Imagine someone saying to Superman “Gee, if you really FLEW you could have save my baby from falling out of the window, instead you leap??”
I know that’s a lot of odd banter to share with you BUT I do have a point…everyone is fallible…no one is perfect…with their weaknesses and our assumptions of them NOBODY has a chance 100% of the time. Robert Burns said in “To a Mouse” that the best laid plans of mice and men often fail.
Have people ever failed me? Key mentors? Family? Co-workers? Pastors? Friends? YES… Have I ever failed people? I would be arrogantly wrong to say NO…of course I have, plenty of times. Some of my failures have even had detrimental effects on the people I love.
Thank God for HIS forgiveness and the forgiveness of others…
Is there ANYONE we can rely on? Ahhhhh…come on…you know the answer to this, right? BUT I think because we have been hurt or have been the one doing the hurting we don’t easily, truly believe that we DO have ONE who is always reliable…faithful…true…and always there…and what is soooo amazing is, it is GOD. Can we comprehend that the very God we feel must have so many plates to spin will ALWAYS be there? Obviously not one of us is THAT busy, yet we can’t always be there for each other.
Most of us have read the “Footprints” poem or some version or snippet of it…”when you saw no footprints it was then that I carried you.” As hokey as that poem seems it is true…
Or the other saying “If you can’t find God, it wasn’t Him that moved.”
So many people ask (during traumatic things in their lives) “Where is/was God?” These same people usually have no need or clue where He is when things are going great and they are taking credit…failing to praise Him for daily provision.
To be frank with you, when I was going through a hellish season in my life I felt God let me down…and I turned my back on Him…BUT still being a Christian I heard that still small voice calling me…I selectively tuned it out to the point where He could have been SCREAMING at me and I would have denied He was there for ME. I realized it was my selfish and prideful self wanting MY way in MY timing and NOT accepting when it didn’t go MY way I felt God walked away from me.
Where is God? God can ALWAYS be found…seek Him with your heart…a heart that is desiring HIM…one that is repentant of sin…and He will be found…with outstretched arms…
Can you find yourself in these scriptures? The first I have felt, personally…the second portion is the comfort we should take in God’s omnipresence !! (omnipresence…God is EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME)
Psalm 73
1 Truly God is good to Israel, To such as are pure in heart. 2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; My steps had nearly slipped. 3 For I was envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4 For there are no pangs in their death, But their strength is firm. 5 They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like other men. 6 Therefore pride serves as their necklace; Violence covers them like a garment. 7 Their eyes bulge with abundance; They have more than heart could wish. 8 They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression; They speak loftily. 9 They set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue walks through the earth. 10 Therefore his people return here, And waters of a full cup are drained by them. 11 And they say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?” 12 Behold, these are the ungodly, Who are always at ease; They increase in riches. 13 Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, And washed my hands in innocence. 14 For all day long I have been plagued, And chastened every morning. 15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” Behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children. 16 When I thought how to understand this, It was too painful for me— 17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end. 18 Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction 19 Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. 20 As a dream when one awakes, So, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image. 21 Thus my heart was grieved, And I was vexed in my mind. 22 I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. 23 Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. 24 You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. 26 My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the [g]strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27 For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. 28 But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, That I may declare all Your works.
Psalm 139
1 O Lord, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. 3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. 5 You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.
Here’s a quote (out of context) from Jim Croce’s “Lover’s Cross”. Realizing we cannot be wholly reliable…only ONE can…God.
So I’ll hope that you can find another who can take what I could not
He’ll have to be a super guy or maybe a super God
‘Cause I never was much of a martyr before And I ain’t ’bout to start nothin’ new
And baby, I can’t hang upon no lover’s cross for you
Yep, we’ve got to stop getting upset with the people we put on pedestals and be MORE concerned with WHO we put on the THRONE!!!
Maybe I should leave you with this, when you feel God is not around where and when you need Him, He has a question for you.
Job 38 (best to read the whole chapter)
1 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said: 2 “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? 3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. 4 “Where were you…??
Pastor Steve