The Kroger Lady
“Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.”
Psalm 139:7-8
“Does God hear me?”
A lady at Kroger walked straight up to me with tears in her eyes and asked me that question. People usually don’t ask me such pressing questions as I’m grabbing a gallon of milk, but I was wearing my collar. I know it’s not easy for someone to walk up to a stranger and ask such a big question, but after hearing her story, she needed to know that God heard her. She was in a dark valley and couldn’t see any semblance of hope.
I think there are seasons, in all of our lives, where God feels distant or hidden. Many have characterized this as a spiritual desert, but if you read Scripture long enough, you realize that the desert can be a place of spiritual renewal. Believe it or not, it can be a place to find the goodness of God like never before.
Sometimes it is when we’ve lost those things that we thought were a guarantee in our life (relationships, careers, etc.) that we become fertile ground for rediscovering God and ourselves. When the foundation of life begins to shake, then we must reevaluate everything, but it’s also a chance to meet our Good Shepherd once more.
God does not promise that we will go through life unscathed, but He does promise that He will never leave us and never let us go. If the Son of God had to endure so much pain and sorrow in His life, then His disciples wouldn’t get to bypass it either. Rather, it is in the Incarnate One that we are reminded that we are never alone.
In the ways that we have been forsaken by loved ones, He, too, was forsaken by His dearest friends. When we go through temptations or physical trials, we can look at Jesus in the desert being tempted by the devil or on the Roman whipping floor before His crucifixion.
We must be bold in our questions and fearlessly ask at times, “Does God hear me?” At the same time, my hope is when we look at Jesus, we see God’s answer that He not only hears us, but He knows us, our pain and has redeemed it all.
