Elizabeth Eliot, in her book, The Path of Loneliness, writes, “God does not whisk us at once to Glory. We go on living in a fractured world, suffering in one way or another the effects of sin – sometimes our own, sometimes others’. Yet I have come to understand even suffering, through the transforming power of the Cross, as a gift, for in this broken world, in our sorrow, He gives us Himself. In our loneliness He comes to meet us.” Isaiah wrote, “Now this is what the Lord says – the one who created you, Jacob, and the one who formed you, Israel – ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine. I will be with you when you pass through the waters, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. You will not be scorched when you walk through the fire, and the flame will not burn you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior…’” Take a minute and really listen to what the Lord is saying, “I am the One Who created you – I formed you – I have redeemed you – and I am not going to let you go through life alone! I am with you. You are mine!” God reminds us, “I am the one who formed you.” The Psalmist declared, “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.” God wants us to know that His hand was on us, in the womb, before we ever saw the light of day. Now, God isn’t standing separate and aloof when we find ourselves walking through difficult times, He is right there with us. David said, “You have beset me behind and before, and laid thy hand on me.” In the middle of life’s hard places – when we struggle for our emotional or spiritual footing – Christ lays his hand on us to assure us and to keep us from falling. He isn’t out of reach – He is with us – His hand of care and concern steadies us in the middle of the floods and the fires that threaten our hope and peace. Why does He do this? Isaiah 43:4 tells us: “Because you are precious in my sight and honored, and I love you…” Do we need to know anything more than that we are loved by God? Ray Ortlund Jr. writes, “Is there a deeper explanation for God’s grace than this? He has given himself to us. He will go with us through affliction. We are precious to him. He loves us. In the cross of Christ, God proved that he would rather die than lose even one of us…” Did you notice that both Elizabeth Elliot and Ray Ortlund Jr. connected their observations to the cross? That’s the key. He went to the cross to redeem us. He is not going to leave us now.
