The God Who Sees Us

"Sometimes you just have to bow your head, say a prayer and weather the storm."

A few days ago, I shared a picture with my Facebook friends that had this caption. I still go back to look at it once in a while. It is a little, tiny bird, with its head tucked in, getting pounded by a heavy rain. He looks so helpless…so small. The rain seems so strong…so hard. It sure looks as if the small creature is just about to get blown away in the storm.

The reason I like that picture so much is because, oftentimes, I am that bird.

I think, at one point or another, we all are that bird. There are some storms we just have to endure. There are some waves we cannot skip. There are some down pours that we are caught in without an umbrella.

We can barely stand in the middle of one of those storms of life…we feel like we may lose our footing at any minute. We can’t see the end. All we can see through our half-open eyes is the endless raging of the horizontal rain, sleet and hail, pounding us straight on the face. We have no shield. We feel every hit. There is no shelter. There is no hope.

What to do?

Bow our head, pray and weather it as we hold on to His promises.

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. Psalm 28: 7

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18: 2

He is the Rock on which I stand…the Rock that doesn’t move. He is the Fortress that gives me shelter. He is the Shield that protects me. It may seem and feel as if we are completely alone in the storm, but He is right there beside us. However, the fact that He is with us, doesn’t mean that sometimes we just have to bear the storm. The fact that He is there doesn’t mean the storm goes away. There is a purpose in it. There is good that will come out of it. There is a bigger blessing waiting for us once it is done.

It isn’t easy, but it is necessary.

It isn’t enjoyable, but in the end we rejoice.

It is weakening, but from it we gain strength.

It is lonely, but it brings us closer to our Lord.

It is nerve-racking, but afterwards we find peace.

When I look at the picture of the hopeless little bird; however, I also think of another picture. I remember a picture Dan took a few years ago of a nest we discovered in one of the bushes in front of our old house. That nest was amazing. There were a couple of tiny eggs in it. We kept watching it, until one day, the eggs hatched and the birds were born. It was just incredible to see these fragile creatures just sitting there, totally dependent. Unable to do anything for themselves…protected only by the scattered leaves of that old bush. As the days went by, their bodies became covered with feathers so they began to look more like birds and less like aliens from another planet. That’s when Dan took the picture. A few days later, the nest was empty. The tiny, helpless birds had spread their wings and flown away…

What had seemed unconceivable to us had happened…the apparently helpless creatures had survived and had even thrived in their little nest. Under the watchful eye of the Most High who created them, the seemingly insignificant birds had made it…

How Remarkable…How Indescribable…How Indecipherable is Our God.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. Matthew 10: 29