NO MATTER WHERE WE ARE, GOD IS. This great theme runs through the Old Testament, or Hebrew Scriptures, from the accounts of Abraham, Hagar, Moses, the prophets, and up to the Jonah story. In times of trouble, these spiritually receptive individuals found God's presence their comfort and guide. Often they were in the wilderness and away from the soft pillows, succulent meals, and cozy lamps of the cities and towns. Out there in the stark life-and-death reality of the desert, with hopes exhausted, they discovered that God not only exists — but that He sustains.
God's love binds us to Him at all times, even when we are asleep to it or feeling unworthy or just left out.
Usually that knowledge came to them suddenly, as a revelation. Out of bleakness came a glimpse of spiritual existence, the light of God. Now, as then, the awareness of the presence of God might jump into our thinking spontaneously, especially when the distractions of sophistication, comfort in matter, and pleasant human relationships are most absent. At such points in our lives — like characters from these Old Testament narratives — we may find ourselves no longer in a hopeless situation, but standing on holy ground. From one point of view, all may seem bleak, but from a spiritual perspective, we are ready for a spiritual rebirth.
