The Good Shepherd and Good Shepherding
Conversation #2 - Providence
Ministering to a world of grief while immersed in our own pain and loss.
PROVIDENCE:
We are firm believers in God's providence. By confessing our trust in God’s providence, we recognize his divine hand in creating and expanding the cosmos. We also celebrate it in the minute details he orchestrates for us daily.
Recognizing the Savior’s shepherding care leads to a joyful steadiness. Or would it be better to call it a “Steady Joyfulness”? The emphasis should be on our joy in his presence moment by moment… It’s his joy that is our strength. Especially in my early years, I think I spent more time trying to be right than tap into the center of the story: the joy of the Lord, which is our strength.
There is never a single moment that is all bad or all good. Some elements of both extremes are always present. We can feel it in ourselves in the spirit/flesh tension we live with every moment. It’s an impossible mix to sort out on our own. We resolve these contradictions through our union (reconciliation) and communion with God. He wants us to walk with him every day. He means for us to be joyful… every day. Every moment is our opportunity to be present… breathing it ALL in… facing it… embracing it… and with a smile, repeating Carol’s mantra: “WE CAN TRUST GOD.”
THE STARTING POINT
What motivated us to look for God? Why did we embrace Jesus Christ as our Savior to begin with? It was because we were convinced we had found that one unified theory about life, death, and eternity. God, in his infinite mercy, allowed us to find him… and to find in him our reason for being. From birth to the grave, in the cross of Christ, we find the answer to everything.
So, it's not really unexpected even when we suddenly find ourselves in a radically different season. And we will still find ourselves on sure footing. We always know that even while the fires are burning, nothing ever happens outside the purview of God’s providence. Nothing surprises him; nothing slips his mind or gets left unattended.
What reward awaits us if we live to old age? I can think of at least a few, but the one that stands out? The longer we live, the more losses we will experience. But for those of us in Christ, we know we will meet again at table in the kingdom of God. “And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 13:29, ESV)