Romans 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Psalm 139:7-12 “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”
This past week, I spent some time in northwest Greenland. As I stepped off the airplane, it was -25 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill that made it feel 21 degrees colder than that. From that location, there were no roads that connected to any town. In fact, there are no roads in Greenland that connect towns together because the distances are too great, the conditions are too harsh, and the terrain is too rugged. From my location, it was an hour-long helicopter ride to get to the nearest town, a small village of only 100 people. It was nearly 1,000 miles to a town over 10,000 people (Nuuk), over 1,300 miles to Reykjavik, and over 2,000 miles south to balmy Montreal.
While it may not be the most isolated and desolate place on the planet, it is pretty close.
My location on that visit is a great metaphor for how we feel sometimes, either as individual Christians or as a Christian movement in America. The conditions of our lives and in our society make us feel like the distance to revival from our location is too great, the conditions are too harsh and the human terrain is too rugged. Our conditions feel cold, remote, isolated, lonely, and hopeless.
But, even then, we are not separated from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord! Wherever we go, even to northwest Greenland, He is there!
For I am persuaded that neither cold, nor remoteness, nor wind chill, nor loneliness, nor hopelessness … shall separate us from the love of God. As a result, personal and national revival may be closer than we could ever imagine in the constant presence of a loving God.
PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO TRUST FULLY IN A GOD WHO IS ALWAYS THERE! Regardless of the remoteness of our conditions and our societal situation, we can faithfully and hopefully proclaim: God, thou art there! With that in mind, hope must dominate our demeanors … even in a metaphorical Greenland.
