Present with us – The guiding father

Are you going through a season when you are feeling bombarded from all directions? Do you feel like you barely have time to recover from one crisis and another is already upon you? Are you living in a state of constant reaction to your circumstances and feel like you are not even able to take a breath?

Maybe you are feeling thrown by your circumstances and are desperately trying to gain some sense of solid ground. And then you feel guilty that you don’t have space for prayer. The exclamations of, “Lord, help” become all you can say throughout the day.

In these times of overwhelm and trouble our father does not leave us alone. In fact, he is present in the midst. In each new crisis he is here.

The well-known and much beloved Psalm 23 talks about a father who is present with us through the hardest and darkest paths of our lives. The message version of this psalm has some beautiful wording:

True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction.

Psalm 23:3 MSG

He lets us catch our breath.

In between the things life seems to throw at us, he gives us space to breathe.

Our father is there in the midst, he is there holding us, reminding us to lean on him, and take our next breath.

He lets us catch our breath.

But he doesn’t leave us there, panting and worn out. He gently takes us by the shoulders and points us in the right direction.

Sometimes our circumstances become all we can see, like a big wave obscuring our vision, and filling our mouth and ears with sand and salt. It can be hard to discern the next step. Heck, it can be hard even knowing which way is up.

And yet in these times, our father promises that he will send us in the right direction.

For those of you getting knocked over by wave after wave, with no chance to recover, I pray you will know the truth of the words from Psalm 23.

May you know the presence of your father in the midst

May you feel his arms around you as you shakily take a breath

As you exhale, may you hear his gentle voice directing you to your next step

May you know without doubt that he is with you

And he will not let you go

Amen

psalm23:3, winter devotional, present with us, the guiding father

5 thoughts on “Present with us – The guiding father

  1. Amen. Beautifully expressed and just what I needed to hear right now. I’m going to print it out for all my family to read. Thank you for your beautiful heart for God expressed through your gift of encouraging words.

  2. Beautiful, Jodie. I love the image of Him letting us catch our breath. xx

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