He is at Work

God stretches out his arm, 
his right hand goes to work, 
and what was meant for tragedy 
is tweaked and tuned to good. 

We cannot see ahead, 
we don’t know when or how 
a dangerous trap’s been set in place 
to frustrate, crush or kill, 

But since he holds the world
securely in his palms,
he knows! He intervenes, protects,
and demonstrates his love.

Who knows how many times
what we’ve seen as delay
has really been his way to act
to keep us from great harm?

Or maybe he unlocked a door
and pushed us gently through,
just before disaster hit
but we were safe, away!

I thank you, Lord, for this:
the way you let us see
the precious stamp of fingerprints
you’ve left behind as signs

of your intense involvement
in the details of our lives.
You counteract the Enemy;
your strong arm holds us tight.

Since our God sees every detail of our lives and promises to protect us while he guides our every move, we often take it for granted—unless we are dealing with a tragedy and wonder why he did not come through as we had hoped! We need to trust his plans, one way or the other.

The LORD watches over you– the LORD is your shade at your right hand; ⁶ the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. ⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm– he will watch over your life; ⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.  (Ps. 121:5-8 NIV)

There are indeed the hard times that come with life on this broken earth, yet we are to trust our Lord’s care and his purpose:

 ² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (Jas. 1:1-4 NIV)

We are on a faith journey that brings transformation. And we do tend to focus on our trials, the hard times that often seem to cast doubt on God being in control. That is a whole other debate. This time I would like to focus on his protection, even the times when we are unaware of what he has done. It strengthens our faith when we can look back and see clear demonstrations of our Lord’s intervention and protection. I particularly rest in those words in verse 8: “the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”

Let me share some examples from my life—it has been full of “coming and going”.

When my mom, four of her kids and other missionaries were trying to escape a dangerous situation in Congo, we got stuck at the border to Uganda. The border guards were angry at Whites—they had just heard news of a plantation owner beating a Congolese worker until he died. They put us through about four hours of emotional torture, hinting at getting their revenge (to read the whole story, wait for my memoir to get finished!). I was eight years old, the oldest of the kids packed into our “escape” vehicle. Finally, tired and scared, I gathered my little brothers and cousins behind a big truck. We knelt there and prayed desperate prayers, begging for rescue. That was when a different guard came out of the border post and the whole story changed: we were released! I never doubted that God had answered the prayers of us little kids!

Sometimes we might even wonder what he may have saved us from, or saved someone else from, without our knowing it. When there are unexpected delays on a trip, for instance, what if he was preventing us from running into danger? What if he really is watching over when we take off from home to go somewhere?

Timing does matter. Once in Côte d’Ivoire I was driving our van south on the gravel two-lane road with just one woman friend with me. We rounded a curve and entered a small village that had been divided by the road. I slowed down, as the law requires but which most vehicles ignore doing. Suddenly I saw a toddler stepping slowly across the road and screeched to a halt, just missing her. Her grandmother was desperately trying to catch up with the child and couldn’t believe that I had actually stopped in time. She was so glad it was me, she said, and not some truck that would never have stopped! So I wondered about that timing too, for that little one’s safety—maybe that was exactly why I had left home when I did, that day.

Another time when Glenn and I and a national coworker were in the process of making an emergency trip south in Côte d’Ivoire to pick up a critically ill child and bring her back north to our mission hospital, we got stuck at a police blockade. The police said that bandits were active on the road ahead, so we needed to wait until they had dealt with the situation. It was hard to sit there that long, knowing the child’s life was at risk. But what if we had left home earlier and run into the bandits? We might never have made it! Eventually one police car offered to lead us through the threat, and we made it safely to destination.

This spring our church, Highland Park Baptist, sent a large group led my brother, Brent Slater, to Israel to tour biblical sites. It had been kind of nerve-wracking, deciding whether or not to go during this time of warfare over there, but eventually they had decided they should. They had a wonderful time, with quick access to many venues due to the lack of lines of tourists. The day that they flew back to the U.S., one couple who had taken a different flight plan than the others stayed behind at the airport, waiting for their flight. Their plane took off. Just after they left, missiles were fired at that site! They had definitely been protected.

The Lord had watched over me when I was a teenager taking a bus from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan down through the state to go home after attending the Inter-Varsity training camp, Cedar Campus. I had thought my ticket would take me to Royal Oak where my family lived, but the bus went right by the suburbs and dropped us off in the middle of the city of Detroit, near sunset. A girl much younger than I had been sitting by me and was also stranded in the city. We were told to walk several blocks to a different station to catch a bus to Royal Oak so we started out, both of us lugging suitcases. We came to a stop light and an old man, short and bald, walked up to us and asked us what we were doing out in the city like this, so late. When he heard our dilemma he grabbed our suitcases and accompanied us to our destination. Then he was gone! Were we with an angel, unawares?

When I walk the neighborhood here in Detroit, and suddenly feel a strong prompting to change my route, I often wonder what encounter the Lord was protecting me from or leading me towards. I could tell you more stories!

Whatever the situation, we know that our Father is aware of our coming and going, even when we sit down and get up, and he will not let his purpose be thwarted, whether it is for our good or for the good of someone else:

You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. ² You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. ³ You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. ⁴ Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. ⁵ You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. ⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? ⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. ⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, ¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. (Ps. 139:1-10 NIV)

Those verses in Psalm 121 and 139 have spoken comfort to me so many times, including during times of civil unrest or war and during our last years working full-time in mission, when deadlines seemed unattainable and challenges insurmountable. I wrote those dates next to the verses and held on to my Lord Yahweh’s promise of constant attention. Looking back, I can see that his purpose included getting us through it all in safety, accomplishing what he had in mind.

I hope this encourages you, too. East or west, at home or going out, Yahweh will guide his loved ones and hold them securely in his hand. It doesn’t matter whether you are in Africa or America, whether you are a child or an adult. He is our constant companion and protector, always at work!