The Thinnest Veil

Devotional by Cheryl Hall

Driving through the desert last week I asked my husband what that lake over there is called. He responded that it wasn’t a lake at all, but a mirage of the blue sky against the light sand. I was SO sure of what I saw that I had already started planning a kayaking trip in my mind to my new found lake! But as God always does, He took this thought and built upon it biblical truths…

Evil times also bring an illusion. David, in his deep distress cried out to God, “Lord, why are You so far away? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?” Psalm 10:1. Job also had this mirage that God was a distant, uncaring God… "I cry out to You, God, but You do not answer. I stand before You, but You don’t even look at me.” Job 30:20

There’s a great danger in placing our trust in what we “feel” rather than what we “know.” Trials have a deceptive way of making us see nothing but a big, thick brick wall of impossibility. “Certainly, God is no where to be seen in all these difficulties. I don’t see Him or feel Him…” We mistakenly assume that our feelings carry fact, but they’re only an illusion.

Jacob, didn’t carry the best track record for honesty and integrity, in fact, he was known for his deceptive ways in getting what he wanted, but in spite of his weaknesses, he loved the Lord, and the Lord loved him. “At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone for a pillow and rested his head, and lay down to sleep. As he slept he dreamt he saw a stairway stretching from earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway. At the top of the stairway stood the Lord… "I am with you and will protect you wherever you go. I will not leave you… When Jacob awoke, he said, ‘Surely, the Lord is in this place and I wasn’t even aware of it!’” Genesis 28:11-16. The same is true for us.

The divider between our present difficulties and the presence of God is nothing but a thin veil. He’s with us! Right here, right now. Even as the first martyr, Stephen, was sharing the Faith with the Sanhedrin and the people, Scriptures say the people, “Were enraged at him and began grinding their teeth in rage, and together rushed him, dragging him out of the city and started stoning him.” Acts 7:54-58. But it’s not the stones he saw, or the faces filled with violent hatred, but he saw God! The veil had been lifted…

“But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to Heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see Heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’” Acts 7:55-56

Dear friends, God is so very near to us in our trying times. May we have spiritual eyes to see, and spiritual ears to hear, all that He has to tell us. We aren’t alone, or abandoned, that’s simply a satanic mirage. He’s not far out in the Heavens, distant and uncaring, but tucked deep into the very core of our hearts and minds, guiding and comforting us each day. May we proclaim like Jacob - “He is right here!” Because He is.

What a comfort!