Running from God
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You. – Psalm 139:7-12 NKJV.
For more than a year, we have been trying to tame a feral cat, and we have made progress. I can now pick up the cat for short periods of time, although I do have a scar across the back of my right hand from one of my early attempts. Recently, I read about a woman in Tennessee and her experience trying to help a cat there. Tabitha Cain had been feeding the cat for several years. Somehow, the cat got its head stuck inside of a peanut butter jar. Tabitha’s mother says, “We tried to get her, but being the type of cat you can’t catch, she kept running and hiding.” Tabitha said, “I thought she was going to die with that jar on her head.”
The Cain family would see the cat from time to time with the jar on its head, but they were unable to catch it. The cat lived that way for 19 days until finally, the cat was so thin and weak they were able to capture it, and remove the jar. The cat is now eating again and appears to be doing fine.
Sadly, we human beings often act like wild cats. Even though we may be in terrible shape physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually we refuse to receive help from the only One who can really help us. We run and we run trying to find our own way with the world’s suffocating jar around us, choking the life out of us. It does not have to be that way!
God loves you and He wants to help you. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).” “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).” While we were still the enemy of God, Christ Jesus suffered and died on the cross for us. While we were still like a cat scratching Him, He died for us. Those scars on the hands of Jesus are from us. We inflicted those scars upon Him, but He still loved us, He still died for us, He still calls to us and longs to wrap His arms around us and give us peace. Jesus calls out to you and says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30).”
Isn’t it time to stop running from God, to stop running from the One who really has the power to help you? Allow Him to take the world’s jar off of you and give you life, abundant life. Where do you start? Just talk to Him. Tell Him that you are tired of running and need His help and He will pick you up in His loving arms.
(Too often we human beings try to live life on our own avoiding the One who has the power to help us live life successfully.)