Heart Tracks - It Is I

"It is I; don't be afraid." John 6:20......"What initially made the disciples panic was the very Person who brought them growth, faith, rest, and guidance." Chris Tiegreen

Scripture relates in the Old Testament that, "Moses entered into the darkness, where God was." We don't like to equate darkness with the presence of God, but the reality is, darkness may well be the most likely place to encounter Him. We fear the darkness, and most everything that can go with it; pain, heartache, loss, sorrow. All of these are life realities. God's people will never be immune from them, and its in these places that we're most likely to feel He's left us to face it all alone. Certainly the disciples felt like this when they were in the middle of the lake in the midst of a raging storm. Such was their fear that when they saw Christ approaching them, they thought He was some ghost, some terror of the darkness. Fear does that to us. It can render even the presence of Jesus unrecognizable. Where might it have done so to you?

Beth Moore said something to the effect that those things in her life that she was sure would kill her were the very things God used to grow and shape her more and more into His image. In the midst of the pain and loss, if we will yield ourselves to His hand and heart, He will use them to lift us higher and closer to Himself. It goes against human reason, but in the darkness we can come to have the clearest picture of who He is. Scripture says that darkness is not darkness to Him. It may obscure our sight and understanding, but it can never alter His. He sees where we are, and He knows what we need. And He'll not leave us in the middle of the "storm." He'll get us to the other side. And in the doing, deepen our knowledge and understanding of Him and ourselves. I have a little book titled, "The Bumps Are What You Grow On." Sometimes the bumps become mountains, earthquakes, tsunamis, In those places we can choose to panic or trust. The first will blind us to Him. The latter will reveal Him.

Thirty years ago, when my marriage crumbled, so did all the rest of my life as well. I lost "everything" as far as how I measured things. All I could see was what was gone; wife, family, ministry. I was in a wilderness in every way, and I saw no way out. Fear gripped me in the center of my being. One day, as I told another brother of my pain and disappointment in Him, He simply said, "Have you ever known God to lead anyone into the wilderness....and leave them there?" The words pierced my heart, and I then confessed my absence of trust in who He was, and what He'd promised. Blind fear began to be replaced by the sight of faith. He'd been there. He was there, it was Him, but my unbelief and panic kept me from seeing. When I finally did begin to see, I knew He'd get me to the "other side." And He did, as He's done so many times since.

In the midst of your raging storm, be you in it right now, or soon to come, He's there. He was all the time. Renounce the fear that distorts His face, and then hear His words, "It is I; don't be afraid." Greater is He that is in and with you, and me, than is the mightiest storm that can come against you.

Blessings,
Pastor O