Sometimes…He’s behind us.

I have always said that God has protected me.  Not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally. 

I grew up with this unexplainable love of God…this innocence that, in all honesty, should not have been there.

There has never been a time when I doubted God’s love for me or His guiding presence…until this week.

It seems like there has been one trial after another…some small and some very serious.  Finally, I just snapped…seriously, God, that’s enough.  I was not very Job-ish…you know, in all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong doing (Job 1:22.)  I was not very Job-ish at all.

My husband asked me the other night…What is God saying to you?  My response?  God is not speaking much these days.  And I meant it.  I felt like I had been the obedient child following close behind Him and, without warning, He disappeared.  He ran off and left me without even noticing that I was no longer able to keep up.

I felt absolutely alone.

Then this morning, I was reading in Exodus…about the angel of God going before the Israelites and leading them through the wilderness.  I couldn’t help but think…You better keep your eye on Him because He could disappear at any minute.  Then…I read this:

And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them.  — Exodus 14:19

I am probably the only one who finds this amazing…but, God was leading them through the wilderness and then, suddenly, He was no longer in front of them.  Why?

The enemy was approaching.  The Egyptians were chasing the Israelites.  But…God was not going to let them be overcome.  Instead, He took His place in between the enemy and His children.

Sometimes…God is not subtle at all.

God has set me on a path…given me clear direction on where to go.

It’s kind of like the joke where the wife complains that the husband never says that he loves her.  The husband replies…I told you on our wedding day.  If anything changes, I’ll let you know.  My husband loves to use that one on me.

God set me on this path and I have not received any indication from Him that the course needs to change.  If, for a moment, I can’t see Him…it may just be that He is behind me…standing between me and the Enemy.

You have shut me in…behind and before.  – Psalm 139:5 Amplified Bible