Always There

I have two tattoos. This is personal, and not something I usually talk about. Whether you do or don’t, you probably have feelings about this type of artistic expression, and that is also personal and unique to you. For me, the two that I have are significant, were chosen with great care, and they are constant reminders to me. The process is not painless, but it does have permanent results.

“Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.” (Isaiah 49:16 NASB) This remarkable imagery also suggests permanence. Here God speaks to His people of His promise to keep them, to hold them, and to always be with them. Even so, Jesus leaves His disciples with the same promise: “…behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20 NASB)

I wonder, do I always believe this? Do I live all my moments with a deep conviction that He is present? When I stumble in the way; when I fail Him and disappoint myself; when I find I have wandered into the wilderness. Yes, even then, He is with me. He does not abandon me when I falter. He is teaching me dependence with the utmost kindness and grace.

That He would choose to make me and to know me and to want me to be with Him is truth that reveals so much of His heart. It is His heart that I follow. It is His heart that I want to know. It is His heart that changes me and makes me His own.

He alone can alter my vision of who He is and what He desires. He alone can lead me into His purposes, which are beyond me. Following Him I work out my salvation. He is God, “…who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.” (2 Timothy 1:9 NASB)  So, I am His for His own purpose.

His ways are not my ways, and His thoughts are not my thoughts. The only way for me to be about His business, is to follow Him. I do not know the way forward without Him. I am absolutely and totally dependent upon Him to move, whether I am climbing out of a hole I dug for myself or leaping on the mountains of His desire. Thank God, He is always there, and not one thing can separate me from His love.

Until next week, beloved, live in the reality that He is always there.