Just How Far

 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him

    is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

 He has removed our sins as far from us

    as the east is from the west. Psalm 103:11-12 (New Living Translation)

Over the last month or so, I have continued to struggle. Instead of seeing the cup as half full, I’ve been seeing it as more than half empty, sometimes seeing only a few drops. Yes, I’ve had a lot going on, but it hasn’t been bad stuff. I’ve just been busy.

What is really dragging me down is that voice in my head telling me that I feel this way because there is nothing out there, there is no God in heaven. If there was, the world wouldn’t be so messed up, I wouldn’t be so messed up. The voice says, how can you believe in a God who lets bad things happen, how can you say you have a loving Father in heaven when He has apparently abandoned you and tens of thousands of other people who have nothing, nothing in this world except maybe the clothes on their backs. How can you say that this book called the Bible can be the inspired word of God when it is just a book of stories written two thousand years ago by people who didn’t have a clue? How? How, Chris, how? And what makes you think that you can write this blog and tell people that you are a Christian?

And I’ve been letting that voice just keep right on talking. But I told myself that I just had to hang on until this weekend when I would go to Lifest and get all rejuvenated. Get my focus back and get a ton of ammunition to just blast that voice in my head. 

This was my ninth year going to Lifest. Incredible, isn’t it? And yes, the speakers are great and the music is great and just the whole atmosphere. As one friend describes it, it’s like being in a bubble, a bubble filled with God’s love and people who know God’s love and you can cast all your cares aside. And then, how much of that can you bring home? And how do you hang onto it when that voice starts up again?

Friday night, Casting Crowns was on the Grandstand. I love their music, how can you not?

The lead singer shared their song based on Psalm 103:12 and that the reason David wrote in that verse east to west instead of north to south is because east to west is infinite. You can go to the west and just keep going. If you have a big enough plane with enough fuel, or better yet, a big enough eagle, you can just keep going to the west and go around and around the world. Same thing with going to the east. If however, you go north, you can only go as far as the North Pole and then you start going south.  

But the whole point of the song, as well as the Bible verse, is that Jesus is infinite just like that. And we all get that, right?

But here is my ah-ha moment. My tiny little proof in the words of the Bible. 

Scientists way back in Jesus time had proven that the world was round, but nobody believed that. Even when Columbus sailed the ocean blue, people thought he was going to fall off the end of the earth.

But God, of course, knew that the world was round because He created it, along with all the heavens and the planets and the moons and the stars. He had it figured out from the very beginning. He knew what it meant to travel around the world from east to west and He knew that His love would keep going around and around without end.

So there you have it. My answer to that little voice that says I don’t know what I’m talking about.

God, Heavenly Father, You are Lord and Creator of all. You have got it all figured out, all taken care of. I only need to set all of my cares and troubles at Your feet. You will always, always be there. Amen