The Holy One of Israel is great in our midst.
We can easily forget this as we slog through a writing marketplace that requires more than we’re able to accomplish. Rarely can we find quiet time away from the frenzy of our devices and the writing world’s demands. Forgetting that it was God himself who established the 24-hour boundaries on a day, we grow frustrated because we’re unable to keep all the plates spinning simultaneously.
Mindset is powerful for managing this type of pressure, and so, I say again:
The Holy One of Israel is great in our midst.
Believers in these last days since Christ ascended have always found ourselves squeezed by life in a fallen world. In perilous times that try our souls, we must keep our eyes on Jesus.
He’s the one who leads us. He’s the one for whom we write. He’s the one we follow.
So, how does our awareness of his presence empower us?
Scripture writers throughout the ages recorded this same truth, providing the reminder that no matter how bad it looks, no matter how far away God might feel, no matter how different our current reality may be from what we had imagined, still, the Lord is near.
We just had the annual Christmas refresher course, the reminder of Immanuel, God with us. This truth is right there in his name, lest we forget.
One day, he will return. That is our destination.
“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: 'Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 12:3-6 ESV).
Read these encouraging passages. In their context, each has an eye on “that day,” The Day when Christ returns, and all is made new: Psalm 46:4-11; Ezekiel 43:1-9; John 6:37-40; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12; 2 Timothy 4:6-8; 2 Peter 3:8-13.
That Day is where we’re headed. Don’t forget it.
Our lives and our work aim that direction. Those passages all proclaim a new reality on the horizon. For God, a thousand years are like a day. He lives outside of time. The awareness of all of eternity past and also of the future reality of a new heaven and a new earth are ever before him. He is omnipresent.
But, we are not. Imagine we stand on a marked spot upon a timeline. This timeline stretches to infinity, aiming off to our right farther than we can see. The other side shoots far, far away to our left, each side without end. That is eternity.
Where we stand is a speck on that infinite line. That speck indicates our brief time on earth. A minuscule dot marks our seventy, eighty, or ninety years.
Our personal existence and concerns during that speck of time overwhelm us, for they are the totality of our days. Yet, shocking and beyond our comprehension, the immensity of our God is intimately acquainted with each one of us, aware of all our thoughts, and concerned with every single detail of our momentary lives.
The Holy One of Israel is great in our midst.
And thus, we know that he will orchestrate the marketplace, our ability to work, our inspiration, our families, our health, our writing, and every single concern that touches our lives in order to bring about his purposes for us and for the world at large. He’s got this.
We’re in God’s hands. He’s wrapped all around, over, under, through, and within every single particle of our lives. Believe it. Talk to him about it. Trust him with it. Go forth bravely in 2019, with faith in his superintending presence in your life.
For the Holy One of Israel is great in our midst.
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| Melinda V Inman, author of Refuge; Fallen; and No Longer Alone |
Raised on the Oklahoma plains in a storytelling family, Melinda Viergever Inman now spins tales from her writer’s cave in the Midwest. Her faith-filled fiction illustrates our human story, wrestling with our brokenness and the storms that wreak havoc in our lives. Find her weekly at http://MelindaInman.com/blog/. To find her work and to be notified of future published novels, follow her at http://bit.ly/MelindasBooks.
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