ONE MINUTE WITH MARLIN

I doubt many would argue that 2020 and 2021 lean in the direction of tougher seasons on the see-saw of good and bad years. We can most likely all think of friends, family, or both walking through dark valleys these days. I have talked and prayed with friends in the middle of strained family relationships, a few watching family members slide down seemingly endless wormholes. I have a friend whose wife is fighting cancer, one taking care of her husband of decades with Alzheimer’s, another who buried his father.

Tucked away in the second chapter of Exodus, beginning with verse 23, are these words: “During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.”

God hears, remembers, sees, and knows. Voddie Baucham’s recent comments on this passage are too powerful not to quote, “When that cancer diagnosis came, God was watching. When that child went astray, God was watching. When you were maligned and mistreated, God saw and when that loved one died, God saw that too. When your family was shattered into a million pieces, God saw that too.”

He goes on to say that this doesn’t sound too hopeful… until you consider the alternative. What if we served a God who missed things? Who cast his eyes away from us, seeing us as unimportant and insignificant? Mercifully, we serve a God who works all things to our good and for His Glory.

We all have days where we wonder or ask the question, “where was God?” In the midst of cancer, Alzheimer’s, death, and pain—God is present, watching over us with love and care. May we never loosen our grip on the truth… God hears, He remembers, He sees, and He knows that our Deliverer—His son Jesus—is coming.

As always, may you find joy in the simple things.

Marlin Miller
Plain Values Publisher