When God Shows Up

🎧CoffeeTime Audio

A scripture passage from several Sundays ago was from the book of Job. Job 36-38

Job's friends were disparaging Job's circumstances and that God was bringing down His wrath. 

Job was questioning. 

Then as the speaker got to chapter 38 he said 

"Then God showed up!"

The statement hit me....

Have you ever thought about the times God "showed up"?

I love that statement. 

In today's world many times we feel God doesn't "show up" anymore, like He did in biblical times.

Like He was for the Israelites as they wandered through the desert....He was a pillar of fire and a column of smoke.

 📖By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. Exodus 13:21

He showed up on the mountain for Moses and gave him the commandments.

📖When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God. Exodus 31:18

📖When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. Exodus 34:9

It was so powerful Moses' face glowed!

He was in the soft whisper for Elijah, after providing for him.

📖The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.  When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.  Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  1 Kings 19:11-13

David wrote songs about how God showed up for him in his time of despair.

📖 I waited patiently for the Lord;

    he turned to me and heard my cry. 

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
    out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock
    and gave me a firm place to stand.  Psalm 40:1-2

The list goes on throughout the Old Testament, 

 but what about the New Testament? 

📖 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Luke 1:35

God showed up! In the form of His Son, as a man to actually walk among man!

📖  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke 2:11

And through Jesus God met people face to face!

📖For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10

Jesus was in as many places He could possibly be in human form and with the constraints of the time.

But God showed up with a plan! And Jesus showed up at the garden, knowing He was going to be arrested, judged, sentenced, beaten, and then hung on a cross.

📖 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 28:36-39

Why would someone willing show up for that!?

LOVE!

📖 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17

📖 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 1 Timothy 2:5-6

The most exciting.... 

Jesus followers were grieving and scared after Jesus had died and was buried. 

And.....dramatic drum roll please...🥁

He SHOWED UP!

📖At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. John 20:14-20

📖A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because  you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:26-29

He had tried to explain that He was going to be with them always, and God was giving the gift of the Holy Spirit

📖“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:25-27

📖  This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  1 John 4:13-14

So now the task is for US to "show up"!

WE need to come before Him with a repentant and humble spirit

📖The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit.

God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart.  Psalm 51:17 (HCSB)

Surrendering our lives to Him

📖Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.  Luke 9:23-24

We can be filled with the Holy Spirit and walk with Him every day!

📖 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:15-20

📖If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.  Galatians 5:25 (NKJV)

If we feel God isn't there, it isn't that He hasn't shown up....we have stepped away.

Look closely, humble your heart, quiet your spirit, seek Him.

"Ah, there He is, right where He has been all along", waiting for you to return your focus to Him.

📖 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

📖  Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

He desires us to show up, ready to serve in His name, to love as He has commanded us to do.

📖My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.  John 15;12-15

🙏My prayer this week is that you see that He has shown up, He is there for you!  And that you show up and make yourself available for whatever He has for you!❤️