by Pastor Mark Moreno
God Is with Us!
I remember watching Star Wars as a kid and vividly remember the second installment “The Empire Strikes Back” back in 1980. It was a spectacle! The sounds, the sights, the action! But I remember the build up to finally seeing the Jedi master Yoda. Like everyone else, I expected to see a large, tall, powerful warrior. What a surprise then to see the subject of our image today: A small, short old and very frail looking creature!
Many movies and books do this: They get you on unsure footing as they tell the story and make sure that you know nothing is as it seems. Many a thriller, a mystery and even dramatic stories utilize this device.
Religion often uses this device as well: In Hinduism, Maya is the veil that covers our real nature and the real nature of the world around us. Even the movement known as Gnosticism emphasizes a hidden knowledge that the material world conceals.
Even in the one true faith, Christianity, there is a sense of nothing being as it seems. In 1 Samuel, God reveals who the next king of Israel will be and it is a very unlikely candidate: David! In 1 Samuel 16:7 we read,
“For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Have you been surprised lately to find something that is not as it seems? Maybe you expected your life to look different at this point. Maybe relationships, or employment, or even your own body doesn’t conform to your hope and expectations.
Maybe you look at your life and see some pretty negative things like depression or anxiety, maybe anger and pain. It can be easy at times to feel like a failure. But take heart: Nothing is as it seems!
Just as God picked and unlikely king, so He too picks unlikely people, just like you and me, to go and live for Him. Look at the disciples He picked! He sent an unlikely Savior for us: His own Son!
So if you aren’t sure you can trust your eyes and things seem different from what the reality is, remember this: God is with you and He sees what you don’t and He sees your heart!
Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Coloado
