God With Us

Emmanuel, God with us. A common phrase that we most often say or remember around Christmas time. But we need to remember it now, today. We need to realize that He is with us, now. I think at times, we can begin to believe that God has removed His hands from our lives and from the world. When things don't go our way or situations are harder than we want them to be, we begin believing that God is one to just throw up His hands and let us deal with everything on our own. Do you realize what that would mean? If God threw up His hands, the world would stop spinning, we would take our last breath all at once, and the stars would fall. He's holding the entire world together, can't you trust him to hold your life together? Even when it feels like life is falling apart, it might just be falling together. Not even might be, it IS being placed together. God is with us and He doesn't just give up like people of the world so often do. He stays. I think this is a big aspect of God that we will never fully grasp. Because as humans, this concept is hard for us. If someone frustrates us or hurts us, we can so easily walk away. If we don't like someone, walk the other way. But God stays. He doesn't force you to enjoy His company, He doesn't force the unbeliever to open the door, but He stays. He stands at the door, even if it doesn't open, even if He knows it won't ever open. He stays, even when you feel like pushing Him away, whether that be out of shame, guilt, or some other reason. We struggle with this aspect of God because we know people give up. We know and have seen people give up on us and walk away. But I think it makes it all the more beautiful. Beautiful because of how foreign it is to us. Beautiful because when we expect Him to walk away, He's still there. Beautiful because we get to experience more of God and experience His holiness. It's beautiful because when we expect the worlds disappointments, we get God's perfection. He has not given up. He might be in the middle of teaching one of His greatest lessons, so listen up.