Weekday Devotion with Pastor Chris

In his book Soul Salsa, author and professor Leonard Sweet talks about a unique practice among some Native Americans.  It is an initiation to mark a boy’s transition into manhood.  Growing up, the boy would have been taught to hunt and scout and fish, and then on the night of his thirteenth birthday he would be taken deep into a forest and left there to face the night alone.

     Until this moment, the boy would never have been separated from the security of his family and tribe.  On this night, however, he would be taken blindfolded far from his home and then left.  When he would remove the blindfold he would find himself in the middle of a dense wood, all by himself.  As Sweet describes it, “Every time a twig snapped, he visualized a wild animal ready to pounce.  Every time an animal howled, he imagined a wolf leaping out of the darkness.  Every time the wind blew, he wondered what more sinister sound it masked.  It was a terrifying night.”

     After what must have seemed like an eternity, the dawn would finally break.  As light filtered through the trees, the boy would find himself surrounded by the safe, familiar sight of flowers and trees.  He would hear the reassuring sound of morning birds.  He would see the outline of a path, and then, to his utter astonishment, the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow.  It would be his father who had spent the entire night watching over his much-loved son.

     There are times when we feel alone in this life; times when we wonder where God is or whether God has abandoned us.  But God is always there, much like that Native American father – unseen, unfelt perhaps, but watching over us through those dark nights that sometimes come our way. Scripture is not the story of humanity’s search for God.  It is the story of all the ways in which God has reached out to us.  This is the God who called Abraham, who called Isaac, who called Jacob.  This is the God who sees our struggles, who takes notice and does something about them – raising up the prophets, the judges, the leaders like Moses and David.  This is the God who came to us in the person of Jesus not because we had earned God’s favor, but because God knew our desperate need.  God’s promise is sure:

“Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name.  When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them.  With long life I will satisfy them and show them my salvation.” (Psalm 91:14-16)