The Fog of Life

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. (Hebrews 13:8-14 ESV).

A couple of days ago we had unusually warm weather, even for Texas. After all, it is still February. However, as the temperature spike at 88 degrees, it was a welcome respite from the colder damp weather we typically have this time of the year. It didn’t last very long. In fact, today I’m writing and looking out the window in front of my desk and can’t help but be stricken with the contrast. It’s cold, damp, misty, and overcast. This morning when I let the dog out, it was actually foggy. Where I could have seen the cattle on the hills across the way from our deck, now I could barely see to our fence line. It might be easy to wonder where the hills with their free ranging cattle went to; however, the truth is they didn’t go anywhere. The clouds had rolled in. When the fog lifted, it was obvious they had not moved. Sometimes it’s like that with God. We come to experience Him in an awe-inspiring way. But later the clouds of life roll in. We experience times of disappointment, rejection, or suffering. It’s like God is nowhere near. When Moses was called to go back to Egypt, commissioned by God to go to the Israelites with a message from Him, he wondered what he would tell them if they asked him what God’s name was. God’s reply is a very clear message to us. “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you'" (Exodus 3:14). It also describes His eternality and immutability, as well as His constancy and faithfulness in fulfilling His promises, because it includes all time, past, present, and future. The sense is, not only I am what I am at present, but I am what I have been, and I am what I shall be, and shall be what I am. We should remember that He has not moved. He’s as sure and as near as the longhorns were that day they were obscured by the fog when I could not see them. So when the clouds move in, that the time you need to remember the faithfulness of God. He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. In time, the clouds of life will lift and you’ll see that God has not moved. He was there all along. Trust Him!