It will occur to the more religious, before even the third paragraph of this article, that the writer is neither theologian nor a Bible scholar. I am however an expert in God having lived most of my life in His care. With belief possibly smaller than a mustard seed God passed by, healed and helped whenever my circumstances seemed humanly insolvable. At other times hedged in most fearfully within the darkest corners I heard Him call. Often desperately I called for Him. Sometimes I found the time and remembered to thank Him.
GOD COMES BY
We can read of several instances in the Bible when God “came by”. He happened to come by when the adulteress was about to be stoned. God came by when boat full of his followers was tossed about dangerously by a raging storm. In the darkness of blindness God was suddenly present to restore sight.
Believers and unbelievers often call on God when problems occur. Believers have at least a mustard seed sized belief and much hope. Unbelievers call, because they don't know who else to call for help. Or they have this attitude,” If help does come, jolly good. If it doesn't well too bad. I didn't expect it anyway.” Say this to a friend and it's unlikely you will whip up much enthusiasm for him or her to come to your aid.
GOD INTERVENES
With my own experiences and skimpy readings of the New Testament I believe that God is a willing helper. He requires us simply to believe this. I know that God is an expert healer. When He was on earth he cured the sick, the blind, and the paralytics. The spiritually ill too. He defended condemned sinners. He was quick to forgive.
He intervened to save people from physical dangers. He promised to satisfy our daily needs. He cared for every hair on heads.
He turned grief to joy. There were also times He was sensitive to the comfort and indeed pleasures of his friends and followers. He forgave betrayals. He forgave lack of belief. He commanded that we love one another just as He loved us.
GOD CALLS
Well that was two thousand years ago. Things have changed much. There are more fatal illnesses. There are more reasons to loose our well-being, more, much more physical dangers, more old sins repeated and growing package of new ones, more reasons for grief.
The most horrific malady, the worst of all is that in a world of over six billion people and over two billion followers of Jesus, you can still descend into the darkest, despairing pits of loneliness and hopelessness. Fortunately this is precisely when you can actually hear God calling. For some of this is the first encounter with God.
GOD KNOWS
God calls particularly at times such as this, because He had Himself experienced the same seemingly inescapable horror. Such was His despair of what he was going to face that our courageous God prayed, that if it was at all possible, that He be spared. He wasn't.
He was seized, paraded before lynch-mobs, lashed, humiliated and put to death in a manner reserved for the worst villainous. Peter, “the rock” betrayed Him and with the others closest Him, fled. For some of us unfortunately it may feel somewhat familiar but never quite so awful.
For us there is help available. For if you ever to have the misfortune to be in such a predicament, you will hear God calling. When it happened to me, I answered with haste and clutched for His Hand. Steadily circumstances were, it seemed, forcefully changed and help came unexpectedly for the unlikeliest quarters. I was pulled out from the depths of my own sinning and put on my feet told to go and “sin no more”.
GOD'S COMFORTING PRESENCE
I continue to sin but it feels so much like that that Jesus has never since left my side. Just like the old times, His favorite companions were after all, the worst types. I take so much comfort, unjustifiably perhaps, the Jesus has never been know to do lunch or dinner with a Donald Trump. He seems to be more at home with people, other people tend to avoid.
Once you have looked out God, or leaped at his offer to help. It is as Blaise Pascal wrote,” Be comforted. You would not be seeking me if you have not found me.” This comfort is the elixir for life. I continue to sin, continue to betray but God it seems is an incorrigible helper
GOD'S HELP IN BUSINESS
I often ask God to help me in business negotiations, presentations, or bamboozle the other guy. He helps. Not by directly answering my precise requests but by dropping wholesome opportunities on my lap. It must be remembered that he didn't make the fish appear in Peter's boat, though I do not doubt for one moment that He isn't capable of it. He ordered them in spite of their protest, to cast the net once more. They were not spared of the arm wrenching work. The filled net was tough work to hoist into the boat.
