We Are Not Alone, but God Works with Us
We are not alone, but God works with us
In the previous issue we spoke about God who works with the weak. Today we would like to mention that God works continually. He works in us, and He works for us. He works for the salvation of every soul. He works in the individual, in the Church, in society, and in eternity. And since He works with us, then we are:
Not alone, but God works with us
When God created us, He did not leave us alone, but He continued working with us. Therefore, he who thinks that he is alone in this world is mistaken.
Your feeling that you stand alone brings you various kinds of weariness, distress, despair, and fear. But your feeling that the hand of God continually works with you grants you courage, strength, hope, and expectation.
And as you feel that God works with you, you trust that you can reach Him and His depths, by Him. For He is the goal, and He is the way.
But if you feel that you are alone, you may fear and consider the spiritual path long and difficult, and that you are unable to complete your walk in it.
The Lord says: “My Father has been working until now, and I also am working.”
He works continually. He is the sower who went out to sow, and cast his seed everywhere, even on the rocky ground and the thorn-filled ground… in every soul, and in every disposition…
And God also prepares a place for us… what a comforting phrase…
He said: “I go to prepare a place for you… And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
So it is not you who prepare the place for yourself, but God prepares it.
He also said: “And I, if I am lifted up, will draw all to Myself.” As long as God is the One who draws people to Him, then He works in them and for them…
But if you feel that you are alone, you will see that the burden is heavy upon you, and that you are weary in your spiritual path. Then listen to the words of the Lord:
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
He is the One who gives you rest. Cast your care upon the Lord and He will sustain you. Leave your matters to Him and He will manage. He acts. You are in thinking, and He is in planning… Therefore say as the Master said:
“…And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me…”
He is with you all the days, even to the end of the age… not only by His Spirit, but also by His work… He works with us and in us and through us. He is the One who leads us in His triumphal procession. He holds our hands and guides us. David, who experienced the work of the Lord with him, said: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the waters of rest. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness.”
He shepherds me, restores my soul, leads me in the paths of righteousness. Do not think that you stand alone before hills and mountains of difficult commandments, confused before them in your weak humanity. No, He carries you on His shoulders rejoicing, and reassures you by saying: “In My Father’s house are many mansions.”
A beautiful attribute of God is that He is the Pantocrator…
He sees everything, and a book of remembrance is written before Him. He governs all, the small and the great… The keeper of children is the Lord… The Lord executes justice for the oppressed. He sits upon the cherubim full of eyes…
Among His greatest works for us is that He restrains Satan from us…
Truly, if Satan were granted his full freedom, he would destroy the whole world. And when he is released from his prison, God will shorten those days, otherwise no one would be saved.
Trust that in the trials that come upon you, there were many other trials that God prevented from reaching you.
God stands calling all to salvation, desiring that all be saved. He goes about doing good as He did during the period of His Incarnation. He still goes about the cities and villages, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every weakness among the people. He still walks in our streets and enters our homes.
We call upon Him in the Liturgy prayers: “Participate in the work with Your servants.”
Every work in which God does not participate with you fails, because He said: “Without Me you can do nothing.”
Every good thought that passes through our minds, God has placed it within us… Every good gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights. Likewise all the abilities He gives to people. And in God’s work with us, the Scripture says about us that we are “partakers of the divine nature.” Partakers of this nature in work, not in essence.
David, who experienced the hand of God with him, says about that:
“The right hand of the Lord has done valiantly; the right hand of the Lord has exalted me.”
Among the very touching things in the rite of ordaining the Patriarch—so that no patriarch in the world may feel that he works, but rather that God works with him—when they vest him with the sleeves, they clothe him with the right sleeve while praying: “The right hand of the Lord has done valiantly; the right hand of the Lord has exalted me,” so that he may feel that this is not his right hand, but the right hand of the Lord; that he does not work with his hand, but with the hand of the Lord; and that when he places his right hand upon a bishop, it is the right hand of the Lord that has been placed upon that bishop…
And in all the works of his Patriarchate, he feels that the right hand of the Lord has done valiantly.
Thus in all your spiritual victories—over your lusts, over your thoughts, over the demons—be certain that it is the right hand of the Lord, and that “the Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace,” and that you stand and see the salvation of the Lord. You must experience the work of God in your life. Feel His hand as it works.
If we review before us the names of God, we find Him everything in our life. He is the Shepherd who gives Himself for the sheep, the Good Teacher, the true Physician of our souls and bodies and spirits, the Wise Builder, the Sower, the Light, the Way. He is the All in all…
He is the compassionate bosom upon which we lean, He is the Father, He is the Comforter.
God works, but not every person sees or feels Him. There are people whose senses are not trained by which they perceive the work of God…
They have eyes but do not see, and ears but do not hear.
Elisha the prophet had his spiritual senses trained, so he was able to see the hosts of the Lord guarding the city, and he was comforted. But his disciple Gehazi was the opposite. The help of the Lord was before him, and he did not see it. Therefore Elisha prayed for him saying:
“Lord, open the eyes of the young man, that he may see that those who are with us are more than those who are against us.” Truly, God works with you, and you do not see Him; He speaks in your mind and in your heart, and you do not hear Him…
Thus David prayed saying: “Open my eyes, O Lord, that I may see wondrous things from Your law.” There are eyes and ears that are uncircumcised…
Sometimes we cannot see because our own selves block the way, or because our doubts block it, or because of our philosophy and human mentality!!
Try to sense the hand of God in every work, in every problem. Try to see the Lord and to sing with David’s words:
“I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.” David’s senses were trained; he saw the Lord before him at all times. If not by sight, then by faith… And we pray saying: “The Lord is at your right hand, O our father so-and-so.” He is at his right hand, whether we see or do not see. The fault is in our eyes.
Elijah the prophet used to say: “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand.” He saw the Lord before him. Likewise was the righteous Joseph who said: “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
The person who lives in faith feels the work of God continually…
In the Book of Revelation, John the Beloved saw the Lord of glory walking in the midst of the seven lampstands, which are the seven churches, and holding their angels in His right hand…
Truly He has engraved them on the palm of His hand. No one can snatch them out of His hand. He who touches them touches the apple of His eye.
Therefore feel that the Church is in the hand of God, not in the hand of the world; and that your life is in the hand of God, and God preserves it in strength…
If you do not see God, at least see the work. Truly we lack the true faith by which we see God and His work.
God works while we are asleep, and He works while we are awake. He watches over us; He neither slumbers nor sleeps.
And he who believes in the work of God, peace fills his heart; he lives in joy unspeakable and full of glory, even if everything appears gloomy before him.
In the midst of tribulations, he listens to the words of the Psalm: “Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord.” The Lord will surely come, even if in the last watch… at the time He sees appropriate.
He works in the fullness of time. He chooses the suitable time according to the abundance of His wisdom. He works in His own way, full of depth. Many of the Lord’s arrangements we understand later, not at the time.
The works of God include what is evident, and also a hidden, quiet kind that no one may sense, yet it is a strong and mighty work, in calmness, in stillness, like nourishment that permeates the roots of a plant and you do not see it. What is important is that we trust that God works and be reassured in His work.
Sometimes we participate with Him in the work. Sometimes we do not participate, yet He does not cease His work in us because of our laziness.
If God were to leave our souls to our negligence, or leave the Church to our negligence, we would perish and the Church would perish.
Therefore He works with us. He works in us so that we may work…
Blessed is He in all His works, whether we see them or do not see them…
Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Kiraza Magazine – Year Seven (Issue Forty-Five) 5-11-1976
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