Is the Lord Among Us or Not?
Think of the mountaintop experiences of your life. Key moments. Times of great joy. Times when you felt God’s presence powerfully. Maybe it was a mission trip. Maybe a special conference. Maybe a camp. On the one hand, going into those times, often there is great anticipation for what God is going to do. On the other hand, coming out of these moments, a cynical friend will often respond with: “You’ll get over it.” Often the cynic is right. Why is this? Why do people get over it? Why are so many Christians inconsistent in their spiritual lives?
It is easy to be excited about the Lord when you can see tangible evidence of God moving around you. But in the moments when we can’t see God at work our faith begins to flag. This is nothing new. God’s people in the Old Testament experienced the very same challenges. In Exodus 17, when God’s people couldn’t see Him at work they asked this question: “Is the Lord among us, or not?” Every Christian who has walked with the Lord for any length of time has wondered this. 2020 has likely been a season when we’ve all wondered at some point: Is God among us or not?
In the Exodus, the people of God had witnessed more miracles than any generation before them in Scripture. These were people who had seen God bring the powerful Egyptians to their knees with devastating plagues. They had seen God part the Red Sea and then walked across on dry ground. God provided water for them in the wilderness. They had witnessed a daily supernatural provision called manna. When they complained about the manna, God even sent meat for them to eat. The people forgot all of these things every time they faced a new crisis. In Exodus 17:1, when the Israelites camped at a place called Rephidim, there was no water for them to drink. That’s when they asked the question: "Is God among us or not?” Privation caused them to question the presence of God.
Their sense of God’s presence depended upon visible confirmation. If they couldn’t see, they couldn’t believe. Their faith in essence wasn’t faith. We are not all that different in our outlook. Even though we are on the side of the cross and the resurrection, we fit in with the Israelites. The problem is, if our faith requires a regular supply of miracles to stay vibrant we are going to struggle spiritually. Not all of our days will hold a mountaintop spiritual experience. Just because we can’t see God at work does not mean He isn’t with us. Jesus made this promise to His followers: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). God will never leave us nor forsake us. We can count on this promise.
Even if we have a physical or financial need, God is still among us. Even if we are discouraged, God is still among us. Even if we feel rejected and despised by others, God is still among us. Yes, we would all prefer each day to be an endless series of miracles and manifestations of God’s power, but we have to remember that the greatest miracle is that God is with us. He came in the person of Jesus: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Whenever we are tempted to wonder if God is “among us or not” we simply need to remember Jesus.