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God Keeps His Word

And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Romans 8:23

Watch Week One, Day One

A few years ago, Pew Research did a survey to find out what Americans mean when they say they believe in God. Although they found that a majority of people (56% to be exact) said they believe in God as described in the Bible, only 28% said they talk to God and that God talks to them, while almost twice as many (47%) said they talk to God but that God does not talk to them.1 The thing about statistics is that they always portray numerically what many of us already know experientially. And these statistics are no exception. So many of us say we believe in God, we affirm his existence, we trust what Scripture tells us about him, and yet, we still find ourselves feeling disconnected from him.

Our lives are complicated and, too often, chaotic. We’re daughters, sisters, mothers, friends, wives. We’re students, teachers, lawyers, artists, politicians, doctors, CEOs. Our day-to-day lives pull us in what feels like a hundred different directions, from late nights at the office, to weekends spent chauffeuring kids, to trying our best to be the world’s greatest aunt/boss/sister/girlfriend. Even so, the world continues to turn, rolling out so many hashtags, campaigns, social causes, cries for justice, we can hardly keep up. And while we do our best to manage our hundred-miles-an-hour lives, so many of us do so looking forward to the rest we hope we’ll find at the other side of one more deadline or promotion, one more bake sale or booster club meeting, one more blind date or pound lost.

This is, after all, what it means to live in the twenty-first century, or so we tell ourselves. And while that may be true, our longing for rest, our longing for stability, for something we can depend on, someone we can trust, is as old as time. So, we do what so many Christians have done before us. We pray. We reach out to God—the God we believe in, the God of the Bible—only to find ourselves on the wrong end of a statistic, on one end of what can feel like a chasm of universal proportions.

It’s one of the ironies of life that it’s in the midst of the hard moments, when we feel most disconnected from God, that we’re led to ask the deep questions of faith. Questions like, “Are you there, God? Are you working in the world? Do you keep your word?” The same questions that have been asked by countless generations before us.

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to unpack these questions as we study the covenants we find in Scripture. And as we look at how God has worked in the world and in the lives of his people, we’ll be reminded once again that not only is God there, but more importantly, he is here—with us, always present and always working in our world and in our lives.

1 “When Americans Say They Believe In God, What Do They Mean?,” Pew Research Center, Pew Research,April 23, 2018, https://www.pewforum.org/2018/04/25/when-americans-say-they-believe-in-god-what-do-they-mean/04-25-18_beliefingod-00-00/.

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Daily Question

Is there an area of your life—work, home, school, family, relationships, health—where you feel disconnected from God? Is there an area where you desperately need God to show up?

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Comments (10)

Family – My family has been a mess, my marriage, my relationships with my kids, my relationships with my brother and sister and father. I own and take responsibility for my part in it we have been a mess for many years and none of us came out of it without a lot of damage. It is hard to stop the carry forward when that is all you know but here we are and we are still trying. I had to let my husband go to relieve the daily stress of trying to live with someone who is mentally unstable and refuses to do anything about it. But I am believing that little by little God will show up and change things for us. I am never going to stop showing up for God and keep on walking in Him.

In the lives of a friend and their family. The friend is making destructive choices and turning away from God. It’s affecting the children, the grandparents, other extended family members…and friends, too.

Yes. I just got through COVID for first time. I am in recovery and still feel foggy and very low energy. While I was sick I felt fairly connected, but the brain fog I’m experiencing has definitely impacted my day to day. I’m connectedly daily in the word. But I feel somewhat distant. Not as close as I want to. I know He is there. I know this will pass. I continue to push through the recovery. I do need God to show up in my family. I need Him to show up for my daughter who is struggling and wrestling with her faith. I need Him to show up in my sisters lives and in my husbands too.

My health. Healing in my body. I want to serve God more.I need God to direct me.Tell me where he wants me to be.

My home life is ok but in my head it feels a mess. This need for my husband to take care of his back debt is haunting me.

I feel disconnected from God in home and work. This disconnect is likely intertwined due to years of bringing work into my home and not separating the two. God did show up at work and helped/guided me through a change. Now I need him to show up at home, in my marriage and motherhood.

At moments I feel disconnected with God but then He quickly draws me back through reminders from His Word or conviction of heart through His Spirit. I am so thankful for His redemptive love which is so undeserved.

I need God to show up in my adult children’s lives and save their souls, redeeming the years the locusts have eaten.

I feel pretty connected to God at the moment in most areas, but I do find myself lacking in my bible reading. I am not really excited about reading scripture right now and not sure why. I talk to God but I guess I am not really listening for him.

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