A God Sandwich

I love it when God unexpectedly reveals something new from a very familiar piece of scripture. Yesterday, at The Church at North Pointe, Pastor Kevin Dudley delivered a new visual for me of Psalm 23. It was powerful because I struggle regularly with the tension between pushing forward and giving up. Look at it with me.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want…
he leads me beside quiet waters…
He guides me in paths of righteousness…
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.
~ Psalm 23:1-3, 6

Do you see it? God is in front leading us AND he is behind us with his goodness and love. We are in a God Sandwich.

Pastor Dudley encouraged me in my circumstances with this statement. When you feel like turning back, giving up, God’s goodness and love is right there saying “no, no, keep going forward!”

As I apply that to my life, I know that God’s goodness and love is different than the supernatural leading of God. Following God requires trusting Him with the unknown. Behind me is a known path filled with God’s presence in my physical life. It is those experiences of God being Real that encourage me to keep following the Shepherd, My Shepherd.

God is Real! He goes before you and he is behind you. You are in a God sandwich.

Why do I exist?

There are plenty of books on living your purpose, finding your destiny, and following your dreams. But have you ever taken a step deeper and asked why do I even exist? Not, why does man exist. Why do I, as a unique individual, exist at all?

Paul states in Philippians 1:21 “to live is Christ and to die is gain.” I will admit that the “gain” part of that statement is often more attractive. However, I am, by God’s choice, very much alive. But why? Why is it “necessary”, as Paul says, to “remain in the body.”

I have determined that I am not here for myself. If I were, there would be no real reason to go on living, would there? My reason for existing even goes beyond being here to be in relationship with Christ – although that is certainly a benefit of living. And being here to help others is also a vital part of my existence. However, if I never existed, I wouldn’t miss out on anything, would I?

Why do I fight for the unborn child to exist beyond the womb? Why do I follow a man raised from the dead? May I suggest that each one of us is part of God’s artwork which has been vandalized by Satan’s Gang?

But not just people. All of God’s creation has been vandalized. The restoration began when God sent his son to earth to oversee the refurbishing project.

The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:8-9

I am here as part of God’s creation - God’s imagination and dreams of perfect love and beauty, trust and joy, peace and harmony like a powerful symphony. I am one note in the maestro’s melodious arrangement.

To ask why I exist is to ask why the waterfall exists. Like the waterfall, the birds, and music; I am a creation on God’s living canvas.

Hang in there. I hear the finished product is to die for.

Let me live that I may praise you. Psalm 19:175