thesoulpurposedotorg

 “But if I go to the east, he is not there;

if I go to the west, I do not find him. 

 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;

when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. 

 But he knows the way that I take;

when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. 

 My feet have closely followed his steps;

I have kept to his way without turning aside. (Job 23:4-11 NIV84)

I’ve been watching the beautiful colors of Autumn disappear outside my windows. The comforting fire crackles in the fireplace and the politicians are silenced with a light touch on the off button. Ahhhh! Such sweet silence! But somedays God too seems silent. There is an old adage that I despise that says: “if God seems far away, guess who moved?” This is supposed to make one feel even worse, the lowliest of the low, if one is in a time of spiritual drought. Not helpful. Not at all. These are the words of Job’s comforters whom God resoundly denounced as liars. Let these words of Job quoted above comfort you. It is only when God seems far away that we are required to flex our spiritual muscles. If God always carried us like a baby through times of trouble, then we would never learn to walk by faith, trusting in God’s unfelt presence, patiently waiting God’s warm embrace, accepting that our life is always lived in God’s presence.
These are dark days as the sunlight disappears with the falling leaves. These are dark days as we listen to news on any station or check our pockets for loose change or our retirement accounts if we are fortunate to have them. These are the days that require our faith, trust, patience and self-acceptance in order to have the inner strength of God within us. Let not your hearts be troubled.