Inspired by Genesis 28:10-16, Romans 8:18-25, Matthew 13:24-30
I’d like you to think about the last time you moved to a new town. This has been on my mind this week as our younger son moved from Ashburn to Jacksonville, Florida. There is a lot of chaos associated with a move like that and a lot of unknowns. Our anxious minds are filled with questions like: will there be friendly neighbors, will I like the new town, how long will it take me to find my way around, etc? There is one question that I have never asked myself when moving to somewhere new. That question is, “Will God be present in my new town?” Now, I certainly have asked the question of whether I will be able to find a church home like the church I had left behind? (Obviously, I asked that question before I became a United Methodist pastor and was told by the bishop that I would like the churches to which I was being appointed.)
While it might have taken some time to find a new church home in my past, I never once considered that God was not already wherever I found myself. I knew from my personal experience of God that God went with me and that God was waiting for me wherever I traveled throughout the world. Psalm 139 says it best teaching, “…Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast….”
Church of England vicar, Henry Francis Lyte, taught the faithful that God always accompanied us – that God abides with all of us. It was so much of a truth for Rev. Lyte that he wrote the beloved hymn entitled, “Abide with Me” in 1847 when he was terminally ill with tuberculosis. Rev. Lyte faithfully pastored in Devonshire, England, for 23 years to a congregation filled with fishermen. The only reason that he left his pastorate was because he needed to move away to a climate that was more accommodating to his worsening lung function. He chose to travel to Italy for a “therapeutic holiday”. Before he left England and all he held dear, he penned the first draft of what would become the hymn, “Abide with Me”.
Our scriptures reinforce the message that God abides. The Apostle Paul teaches the faithful in Rome about hoping in God’s grace and presence to bring about the return of Jesus. Paul teaches that when we realize that God’s love abides with us always and is constantly at work moving our world ever closer to God’s kingdom, then we find ourselves able to wait patiently for that blessed day to come.
Jesus follows up his Parable of the Sower with another story about a farmer who plants good seed in his field. However, while all were sleeping, “his enemy” came and sowed weeds among the wheat. The workers were concerned that weeds had sprouted among the wheat and wanted to go and pull them up. The wise farmer cautioned that doing so would destroy more wheat than leaving them to grow. The wise farmer trusted that God would take care of the weeds at harvest time and that they all just needed to be patient and trust in God’s abiding wisdom and presence.
The feud between Jacob and Esau has come to a head. Jacob stole the blessing intended for Esau and Esau had vowed to kill Jacob as soon as he finished mourning the death of their father, Isaac. Rebekah sent Jacob on a journey to her kinsman Laban (the same man who had given her away to Isaac). During Jacob’s long journey to Harran, he slept in many places. One night, Jacob dreamed that there was a ladder or stairway connecting heaven and earth and angels were constantly ascending and descending it. Jacob heard the LORD promise that God was giving to him and his descendants the land upon which he was lying. Further, like his grandfather Abraham, God told Jacob that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring”. Jacob awoke and realized that God abides not only in all places but in him as well. Jacob anointed the rock on which he slept and named the place “Beth-el” or the “House of God”.
The Bible reminds us repeatedly that God’s loving presence abides with us. There is never a place that we go that God is not there. Yet, we often seem surprised, like Jacob after he awoke from his dream, to find evidence of Emmanuel, “God With Us”. Throughout Judeo-Christian history there have been long seasons where the people of God denied the living presence of God – and created other lifeless god-likenesses to take the Creator God’s place. Blessedly, no matter what is happening with God’s people and their level of disbelief, God continues to abide with them and care for them. God’s crowning achievement was to physically come down to earth as the human we know as Jesus of Nazareth so that we could actually see and hear God clothed in our flesh.
Even religious professionals doubt the presence of God at times. Mother Theresa is a famous case-in-point. Her journals revealed that she was unable to feel the presence of God in her life for almost 50 years as she labored in the oppressive darkness of the alleys of Calcutta. Rev. Lyte also seemed a bit unsure whether God was really with him in his extremity. In the opening verse of his hymn he pleads to God, “Abide with me! Fast falls the eventide. The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide! When other helpers fail and comforts flee, help of the helpless, O abide with me!” Rev. Lyte was seeking assurance that the God who abided across the Bible was in fact with him in his significant illness (and hoped for healing). He pleaded for help from the God who always attends the least, last, lost and those left behind.
In the third verse, Lyte comes face-to-face with his finitude and longing for God, writing, “I need thy presence every passing hour. What but thy grace can foil the tempter’s power? Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be? Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.” Rev. Lyte was aware of his powerlessness over the disease that slowly destroyed his lungs. He was aware of his need for a loving and abiding God in all places and in all seasons of his life – especially as death approached.
The fourth verse shows how Rev. Lyte renewed his faith in the God that abides. He wrote, “I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless, ills have no weight and tears no bitterness. Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if thou abide with me.” He did in fact find the triumph that he sought. The clergyman that was with Rev. Lyte in his last days noted that his final words were, “Peace! Joy!” He had experienced first-hand that God abides and God’s promises are fulfilled.
We often go through seasons of life where God seems to be distant or possibly even absent. Like Mother Theresa, we wander through our days without feeling the presence of God. Sometimes terrible things happen to us through our own poor decision making or as a consequence of being human, and we wonder where God is in all the pain and suffering. We become angry at God’s perceived absence and lack of caring and we may even tell God that we’ve had enough! Like the psalmist teaches, however, “…If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you….” This is what Rev. Lyte found at the end of his long illness – that no matter what was going on in his life – God was there with him.
There are things that get in our way of perceiving God and God’s abiding love for us. The weeds of life can grow along with the good seed of discipleship and can tempt us to focus on them instead of the larger picture of God’s abundance. If we have patience, we can live out of the hope that God has promised us a blessing at the harvest. No matter where we go, we can rest assured that God is there. The love of God is always at work through the Holy Spirit, even if we cannot see or feel it. Our salvation is found in our faithful hope that God’s love abides and will ultimately win. Thanks be to God, amen!