Bethany Bullet - May 12, 2009

In Disney’s, The Lion King, Mufassa has promised Simba that, even after his death, he would always be with Simba his son. Later the lost, alone and confused Simba looks heavenward and cries, “YOU said you would be with me. You said you’d always be there for me. But you’re not! And it’s because of me.”

Without going into the review of the movie I believe this cry of Simba’s is somewhat analogous to the cry of the Christian heart that is confounded when their reality seems to be at odds with Jesus’ promise, “I am with you all days. Like Simba we have seasons in which we begin to wonder, “If Jesus is really with me, why he hasn’t kept me from _______________?” (You fill in the blank) You know how the conversation goes.

A. If Jesus is with us all days we will never experience pain, suffering or grief. Jesus presence MUST assure us of this - right! Doesn’t that make sense? If Jesus is with us all days can there be gray days?
B. If Jesus is with us all days we will not come to know doubt, confusion or action that is filled with frailty and fault. Doesn’t it stand to reason that if Jesus is with us all days there will never be hazy days when we lack reason or a reason?
C. If Jesus is with us all days we will never have a day that the ends don’t meet right. Doesn’t it just go with the territory Jesus’ company will protect us from poverty, a bad economy, bankruptcy, and the uncertainty that comes with unemployment - right?
D. If Jesus is with us all days we will of course always be trim, with a full head of hair and rugged good looks - right! There is no questioning that if that is the case you know which preacher you ought not to listen to. If you only read the Bethany Bullet and haven’t actually seen this author you are perhaps unaware that only one of those three things is a part of my personal reality :-) and if that is the case I can truly claim one out of three.

The history of the church bears witness to the truth of Jesus’ presence in the midst of trauma and turmoil.

It wasn’t but a few years after Jesus made this promise that it had its first martyr. Stephen was killed by the pelting of rocks upon his flesh. He was killed in one of the worst and most painful ways I can imagine, people threw rocks at him until he breathed his last. He knew physical pain and upon his death the church knew grief and sorrow, yet before he died he saw Jesus in heaven and prayed for the forgiveness of those who killed him. Jesus’ promised presence all days does not mean you won’t have days of physical pain nor of the pain that follows loss.

It wasn’t but a generation after Jesus made this promise that the church in Jerusalem was impoverished. The Christians in southern Europe and Asia Minor took up a collection for them, they had literally NOTHING – but they were not deprived of Jesus’ presence. HE was with them ALL DAYS.

And he is with us ALWAYS – always is a poignant word. The literal translation is ALL DAYS – pretty important for us to cling to – for we live in days, and we do not know what the days may bring.

• There are days of confident faith and there are days of doubt, confusion, and fear.
• There are days when the birth of a child brings joy beyond words and there are days when the pain, sorrow or worse yet the death of a child brings grief beyond compare.
• There are days of peace and there are days of war.
• Mothers know the flow of days quite well. There are days when dad is called with excitement because the baby made a poop in their diaper and there are days when dad is called with panic because the kids puked all over the car.
• There are days when mom’s voice brings them running into the room from all over the house and days when mom’s voice sends them running behind slammed doors.

We do not know what the days may bring – Yet in ALL DAYS Christ is with us:

• As Savior, yes to grant us forgiveness;
• As Prophet, yes to grant us understanding;
• As Friend, yes to grant us companionship.
  

Yet, His promise today is a presence to be with us to empower us that through us others might see Him.

Remember the days in which Jesus made this promise; right before He ascended. Immediately after this promise Jesus returned to His Father in heaven. At this point, Jesus earthly ministry would change forever and NO LONGER would Jesus seen on earth in HIS PERSON – but because of this promise, because of these six words, Lo, I am with you always, He would be seen on earth through HIS PEOPLE.

Yes, Jesus himself is with us all days. And through our days He reveals himself to others. When the days of delight and light, confident and secure, filled with health and prosperity – He is seen in us as we confess all good things are from Him, and the blessings of Life are gifts from the hand of God even when they arrive through the labor of our hands. When the days are filled with doubt and darkness, sorrow and need, weakness and frailty – He is seen in us as we confess that God is great and good even in the midst of days that are not.