I had a conversation with my mom this afternoon and she kept asking me in the midst of trial where God is? We believe God is with us, we believe God is guiding and protecting us, but where is God shining down revealing himself to us giving us that hope?

Thank you to thebooktart.com for the picture

As I was listening to her it became very clear to me that God has been continually revealing himself to us through our circumstances. It can often be in the little things that God is showing a mighty work. The reality is that our trials wouldn’t seem so catastrophic if we didn’t believe in Christ. Evil wouldn’t be so prevalent if we weren’t fighting for good to overcome and win. Christ meets us in the pit of sin and is reaching down with an outstretched hand asking for us to grab on. We often look for God’s revealing in miracles and drastic change in lifestyle rather than the physical outreach trying to simply help us stand back up on our own two feet. When we live in sin we are still responsible and accountable to our choices, God wont simply take them away because we must deal with them and learn from them but in all reality those mighty changes in life is God’s revealing of himself even through our freewill to choose life or death.

So beloved, you are chosen, adopted, accepted and loved! God is revealing himself to you in the midst of the trial. Look for him in practical ways rather then in miracle form. I’m not suggesting that Christ wont perform miracles over your life as he does often but when life sinks deep, remember Christ is there revealing His precious self to you through ways that wouldn’t keep you believing still.

The simple question, “Where is God, why can’t I see him?” Seems to me to be the essence of Christ trying to get you to take your eyes off yourself and the longing for tragedy to dissipate, but to stay Christ focused so that you can see his hand in the daily routine of what we call life. We need to go deeper still in our faith, trials bring perseverance and Christ says we need to consider them pure joy. The definition of pure is: not mixed or adulterated with any other substance or material, free from contamination, containing nothing else. The definition of joy is: Great pleasure and happiness. The two combined seem to be a happiness filled without anything else, free of any other material or substance distracting the essence of our joy. Consider it pure joy my friends, when you are faced with trials of many kind (James 1:2-4).

Reveal means to make known; previously unknown or kept secret. Christ isn’t a secret to us, he is constantly showing himself through divine or supernatural means. When we ask Christ to reveal himself, I think we ought to ask for us to see the supernatural realm taking place at that present moment. If we feel Christ is hiding Himself from us our perspective needs to get back in tact. Whose hiding, Christ or us? Christ has revealed himself. Let’s not hide in the midst of pain and tragedy and question God’s presense. Instead lets open our eyes and grab on to Christ as He walks with us through our day.  Our prayer should be: “let me see You as You are continually revealing Yourself to me. Let my doubt, fear and trepidation not hinder my sight from your glory as You embark this journey hand in hand with me. You have and will continue to reveal Yourself to me, help me from hiding from you glory and keep my eyes pure, uncontaminated by anything other than Yourself so that I may proceed with faith and not let evil conquer me.”

My friends, the reality is we all go through dark times in our life where we can’t find which way is up. Unfortunately we need close brothers and sister in Christ to stand by our side pointing us in the direction of the finish line. I’ve wondered myself many times why God hasn’t preformed that miracle on our family, when I need to remember we all have our own choices and no matter which road we choose God will be faithful to us as we continually choose Him. This doesn’t mean our ‘miracle’ is that the tragedy or hardships get taken away, it simply means resting under His wing for refuge while we continue to endure the path that’s narrow and difficult rather than the worn, wide path.

We think that Christ revealing himself to us is some unknown experience that rarely happens. My friends, Christ is daily revealing himself to you, are you receiving this great gift you have been given? You may question God as at times He can be silent, but when you seek him for guidance He will not fail you and is waiting to unveil the many layers covering your eyes. We tend to let our insecurities, doubts and fears become the essence of how we think God is working. This is all wrong my friends and I’m guilty of this as well. We need to remind ourselves what God’s promises are so that when standing in the midst of the fire you are pure before the Lord, knowing you can and will endure the fire and come out even more refined on the other side.

Moment of Truth: Reveal yourself to Christ, don’t keep yourself a secret from Him as he is reaching down into the pit with His hand outstretched longing to wash away your pride and selfishness and renew your eyes with peace and glory. There is a hope!