I Don't Want to Go Alone

I have a very neurotic rescue dog.  She has serious abandonment issues.  She doesn't like us to leave, and fusses at us when we get home.  At least now that we have had her six plus years, she has stopped destroying things in fear when we leave...  But the weirdest thing is that she will not go to the "bathroom" alone.  You have heard men joke about women being unable to go to the bathroom unless someone goes with them, well with Angel it is true.  If we let her out and Snoopy doesn't feel like going she will stand at the back door and bark insistently until he gets up and has us let him out, too.  Then, and only then, will Angel venture out into the back yard.

Today in my sermon I talked about the Holy Spirit going with us always.  Sometimes it is like a dove sometimes a blazing fire.  Sometimes we can't always feel it, but God's Spirit is always there.  In the Bible, when God's people couldn't feel God's presence, they complained and called out until they got an answer.  They were often neurotic and annoying, and there were even times when God didn't really want to be with the whiny people.  For example, Moses had to beg God to go with them after the Golden Calf incident.  "If your presence will not go, do not carry us from here.  For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, and I and your people if you do not go with us?"  (Exodus 33:15-16)  Like Angel, God's people didn't want to go anywhere unless they knew that God was going to go with them.

I think that may be part of our problem today.  Many people don't care whether God goes with them or not.  Some people feel that it's OK if God wants to come along, but they are fine either way.  Some others would rather God not go with them.  As a culture I think we have lost the deep need to know that God is with us.  We no longer beg God, like Moses.  We often don't even think about it.  We try to live our lives on our own, and it doesn't always work out that well.

I want God to go with me, even though I am sometimes embarrassed that means that God will know what I think and do.  God does promise to go with us.  In fact, there is no place where we can go where God's presence isn't already there.  So for those who hope God won't come along and see what they are doing... oops, sorry!

We sometimes feel God's presence very strongly.  Sometimes the Spirit is like a fire in our life.  Sometimes is is more subtle like a dove.  Sometimes we won't even be able to feel it.  That doesn't mean that God has left the building.  That means that we are not in tune with what God's doing.

I think that maybe we would be better people if we were a little more like the Israelites, or even Angel.  I don't mean whiny and annoying.  But if we actually prayed for God to go with us.  If we actually invited God along on our journey, then maybe we would think about our decisions more.  Maybe we would worry less.  (OK, in Angel's case I'm not sure that part works... other than, she has started to believe that I will come back when I go to work or the store...)

We don't have to go alone.  God is with us.  Perhaps the world would be a better place if we acted like it.

Peace