closer to us than our breath

Today in the One Year Bible, we read from Nahum 1:1-3:19. We read about God punishing those who do evil. But above and beyond that, we read 1:7. "The LORD is good, a strong refuge when trouble comes. He is close to those who trust in him."

2020 has brought trouble to many people, maybe you and those you love. And while we're all hoping that the craziness will end, or at least lessen, when this terrible year is over... we face the fact that it might not. And that it could even get worse. 

But if you are facing these troubles, Nahum 1:7 never stops being true. He IS your strong refuge. He IS CLOSE to you when you trust in Him. You may be facing fears, uncertainties, sickness or even death. But you are not alone, and you never will be alone. He is not only with you, He is CLOSE TO YOU. Closer, in fact, than your breath itself.

I've shared this before, but I think it bears repeating. Stop and think for a second. Everything you experience in your entire life is on a delay. Let's start with something far away. When you see the light of a star in the night sky, it's coming to you from so far away that the light you see has been traveling for years. Sometimes even millions of years. So the things happening on that star right NOW you won't see in your lifetime. Your children's children's children won't even see it. Well, that's true with everything. Even something that happens half an inch from your eye. It takes time for the light from that action to enter your eye, and for your eye to send the impulse to your brain, and for your brain to interpret it. So everything you experience all day long every day is on a delay from when it actually happens. Even your breath. You think you're experiencing your breath as it happens, but even THAT your brain interprets the sensations very slightly after it happens.

But your experience of God is immediate. He is right there with you in your mind. When He speaks to you, it's instant. His words to you are the only thing, in fact, that you experience as they're happening. 

He's closer to you than your breath.

So don't feel alone. Don't feel lonely or neglected or sad. God is so close to you, and He loves you. He will take care of you, and be your strength.

God, thanks for being closer to us than our breath.