It's Right Out There

 

I

 knew it was out there!  I looked at it several times the previous day, and that night, before I went to bed, it was in its usual place.  I’m talking about a very busy stretch of highway that was just across from my apartment.  I’m making such a big deal about that road because on this particular morning it wasn’t there.  I mean it had completely vanished!  Normally, I looked across the open field between that road and my apartment but on this morning the field was gone as well.  No, I wasn’t having a bad dream and I wasn’t imagining things.  A thick fogbank moved in and obscured my view of the field, the road, and anything else I normally saw from my balcony. 

 

As I ate breakfast that morning and looked out my window, the fog advanced rapidly, engulfing the next apartment complex, the open field directly in front of my place, it even enveloped our parking lot.  In just a matter of minutes, everything visible completely disappeared into a mantle of white with no evidence that anything existed in it.  Yet, I knew the road was still there because I heard cars and trucks traveling back and forth.  The apartment complex next door was still there even though I couldn’t see it, and that big open field was still right in front of me although there was no evidence of its current existence. 

 

I poured myself one last cup of coffee and stepped out onto the balcony.  It is very interesting to sit in a fog bank, to feel the cool mist play all around you, surrounding you and cutting you off from the world.  But even though I sat in the fog, I was unchanged as a person.  I still had hands, feet, and a torso.  My appetite was still as voracious has it had been before I entered the fog, and my cup of coffee was still warm and comforting.  The only difference lay in my perception of the world around me.  My view and perspective had been altered but the true existence of things around me remained the same.  The reality of the field, the road, and the neighboring complex did not depend on my ability to see them.  They existed whether I could view them or not. 

 

The Christian life is sometimes like a fogbank.  It is so easy to believe God is working on our behalf and that He takes a vested interest in us when we “see” evidence of His moving in our lives.  As long as our prayers are answered, as long as we are growing by leaps and bounds, and as long as things are going along smoothly, we have no difficulty in exercising our faith.  Then the fogbank moves in.   We find ourselves surrounded, engulfed by the swirling mists of doubt, fear, and confusion.  Just yesterday, it was sunny and we had a clear vision of God’s work in our lives.  Today, however, the fog moved in rapidly and obscured everything we knew to be true. 

 

We are all familiar with these moments in our walk with the Lord.  Sometimes we feel cutoff from everyone and everything.  It seems God has abandoned us and left us at the mercy of the fog.  At such times we become reluctant to move forward, afraid of what the fog may be hiding, unsure of where the pathway lies.   This was exactly the way Thomas felt.  Although he had been with Jesus, although he had heard the promise from the Lord’s own lips that he would rise again, Thomas became lost in the fogbank of doubt and uncertainty. 

 

Jesus, however, had words of comfort for Thomas and for us as well.  In John 20:29 we read, “Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."   In this brief statement, Jesus addresses two distinct groups of people.  First, he addresses Thomas directly, telling him that he believes because he has seen.  We are all like this; we find it so much easier to believe God when we see Him.  But Jesus went further, addressing all those who believe but have not seen.  Here, Jesus addresses us directly.  We believe that Jesus is the very son of God—God, Himself—and that he came to offer salvation.  However, none of us has ever seen Jesus in the flesh, yet we are sure of him and his work. 

 

The truth of Jesus Christ is not dependent upon my faith in Him.  Listen to me carefully, the fact of Jesus’ atoning death on Calvary for the forgiveness of sins happened. My believing it or not believing it doesn’t’ alter the fact one iota.  However, my belief or unbelief greatly alters my relationship with God and my eternal destiny.  My faith does not change God; it changes me! 

 

If you are living in one of life’s fogbanks today, rest assured that God is right out there!  He has not left you alone, He has not forgotten where you are, and He will not play tricks on you.  He simply knows that unless faith is exercised, it does not grow stronger.  God wants us to have strong faith.  If you do not know Jesus Christ as your savior or if you know someone who needs to know him, I pray you will share this today.  Jesus stands ready to help those lost in life’s fogbank.  He’s right out there!  Wont’ you place your faith in him today?