Fun fact about me. There was a brief moment in time where I played rugby. I say brief because in no time at all I was injured out with messed up fingers, flare up of my old shoulder injury, a cut to my right eyelid, and concerns about worsening my brain injury. Playing rugby is not without its hazards.
During that time, I played a position that was essentially meant to be either tackling any opposing team player with the ball or protecting my teammate making a run. I was taught to communicate my presence to my teammate by repeatedly yelling a single phrase:
“With you!”
Short, simple, easy to remember, but it meant everything to hear on the field. It’s, in my opinion, just about the best sound you can hear in a rugby game.
Given the pace and structure of rugby, my teammate rarely saw the evidence of me running with them. They had to charge headlong towards the oncoming defense trusting that I really was with them and that I would be there to protect and fight for them if they were tackled to the ground.
Of all my experience with sports, I can think of no better metaphor for how Jesus helps us navigate life.
There are so many instances in the Bible of God promising that he will be with us, from going blocking the Egyptians from reaching the Israelites on the shore of the sea to Jesus being called Immanuel, quite literally meaning “God with us”. This is not something he is flippant about. This is a deep and intentional part of God’s character and heart towards us. But it’s not always his most visible attribute.
So often, I want the hard, concrete evidence going before me, showing me before I even start that God is going to take care of things. I want the assurance before the action. But God rarely works that way with us. The whole pillar of fire thing is not exactly a common occurrence.
The Christian life is not easy and sometimes God will call us to hard things. In the midst of those hard things, it can feel as though God is far away and removed from whatever we’re struggling with. But the exact opposite is true. God is not distant, he is right there with us. It just looks different than we might want it to.
In those moments, the Holy Spirit is moving powerfully, bolstering us, encouraging us, guarding us, and pushing us. The gift of the Holy Spirit is not some throwaway present. It is a conscious provision of God to extend his “With you” capability.
With you. That’s what God is yelling to us when We’re making a tough play in our lives. With you. Maybe not where we would like best to see him, but where he can do the most for us. We’re not taking a step into danger without him completely covering our play. If life comes at us and tries to beat us down, he will be right there in the thick of it like he promised, covering us through the fight.
We see this in so many different ways. We see it in the way doors are miraculously opened to us when we feel like we have no more options. We see it in the way we get that inexplicable feeling that we can hold out just a little longer in a trial. We see it in the way a fellow believer gets in touch with us seemingly out of the blue to check on us and see how we’re doing. We see it in the way people come alongside us to help us for no other reason than love for us. There are a thousand ways to hear God saying “With you” if only we have ears to hear them.
Make no mistake, in life you will encounter hard things. Things that feel impossible to face on your own. When those moments come, we need only slow done, listen for the “with you”, and keep fighting forward. He is with you, and he will not leave you alone in those hardest moments.
He is with you.
Let’s find some joy,
A
Avalon Robinson Author 