The Gift of God

Several years ago, a man who used to frequent our church was going through some turbulent times in his life. One morning, during these days, he got up, sat outside with his cup of coffee and as he watched the sun rise, he said, “Here we go again.” His despair was very great.

I sort of have the same attitude as this guy. I have a hard time seeing life as a gift of God. I have lived long enough to see how life is full of disappointments, cruelty, and injustice. I have seen how life and relationships can be fragile, volatile, temporal, and uncertain. Somehow thinking that my life is so much better than 90% of the world and that my children are so much better off than those starving “third world children” does not really comfort me or make me feel better. When I look at life with these eyes, I can see how people can become hard, cold, and calloused and if life was a “gift from God,” I can see how people might think that God has a morbid sense of humor.

However, when I consider that the “Gift of God” is really God, Himself, I can look at life differently. I can declare with the Psalmist, “…though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You (O, LORD) are with me…” (Psalms 23:4) And again, “O God…earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” (Psalms 63:1) I can also add my voice along with the multitudes and sing, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, Because He lives, all fear is gone; Because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living just because He lives.”

I would “cash in my chips” in life except if it weren’t for the promise of “Immanuel—God with us…always, even to the end of the age.” For this reality, I am eternally grateful and forever His.