“And now, here is a message from the Lord to Jacob, his creature, to the Israel he fashioned: Do not be afraid, I have bought thee for myself, and given thee the name thou bearest: thou belongest to me. Pass through water, and I will be with thee, so that the flood shall not drown thee; walk amid the flames, and thou shalt not be burnt, the fire shall have no power to catch thee.” (Isaiah 43:1-2)
I was thinking about God’s omnipresence on a recent flight.
Of course, God is there:
But guess what, He is also here:
A comforting reminder in times of trouble.
A not so comforting reminder when causing trouble.
There is no running away from God, just as there is no running away from a guilty conscience. This is a popular and powerful theme in literature — The Divine Comedy, Crime and Punishment, Macbeth, and The Tell-Tale Heart, to name some of the best.
On the flip side, I cannot think of many examples of redemption as a central theme in literature, but A Christmas Carol comes to mind. Can you think of other examples?
And then of course the Bible contains many stories of redemption, one of which is dramatized so powerfully in The Chosen. Don’t watch this clip if you haven’t seen Episode One yet.
God is always there. He is always looking for us.
