He Walks Beside Me

He Walks Beside Me.

I don’t know. At least that is what I was thinking at the time. In some cases it is something you say when you are trying to purchase a gift for someone. Or it could be a statement you make about something someone else said and you don’t know whether to agree or not. You might even be standing in a new car showroom trying to decide. The red one, or the blue one? It could also be when you don’t understand why things happen.

It’s times like this that we need someone to come along that either knows us better than anyone else or someone who knows more than we do. I believe each and every one of us has been in this position at one time or another. Different situation, or circumstance, to be sure. But each and every year, you and I have either said or thought this same line.

One things for sure, the question is very real. Many times, someone asks me something about God and Life. I’m in the faith business you know. This particular time I did not know the answer. I can remember a day, many years ago, when I first came out of Bible College and I thought I had learned enough and knew enough and all that people had to do was ask. In truth, sometimes I did and many times I was not so sure. Once in a while, I would make something up or guess or, can I say it, I “faked it”.

But as I sat there with this couple I didn’t guess. They had just lost their first child at a week old. Through tears the father asked me, “Why?” And for the first time in my life, I admitted, “I don’t know.” Yes, there was the temptation to say something spiritual, some over used phrase, or even make something up just to comfort them. I didn’t do any of those things I just sat there looking straight into their swollen red eyes admitting that I didn’t know.

It was at that moment that we gave each other permission to question God and to open up to each other about the uncertainty of life and the pain we were all feeling. At first I was not sure what was happening. What I did know was something was. We began to feel God’s presence. He was there with us. He came alongside the three of us, like no one else could. He not only knew more then we knew but He knew us and knew our pain.

I learned that day it is okay to say, “I don’t know”. We learned something that day. We learned there is someone who will come along beside us when we don’t know. I pray God will come along side each of us in times like these. He knows. And that is enough for me.

Something to think about.

Rob