WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.520 Welcome to Pomoja Ministry. There is something 00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:05.679 about divine intervention that we often misunderstand 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:09.119 because when we ask God to intervene, we usually 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:11.720 already have an idea of what His intervention 00:00:11.720 --> 00:00:14.560 should look like. If there is a Red Sea in front 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:18.179 of us, we expect Him to divide it. If there is 00:00:18.179 --> 00:00:21.399 an enemy pursuing us, we expect Him to defeat 00:00:21.399 --> 00:00:25.300 that enemy. If there is a closed door, we expect 00:00:25.300 --> 00:00:29.149 Him to open it. If there is a storm, We expect 00:00:29.149 --> 00:00:33.090 Him to calm it. If there is a sickness, we pray 00:00:33.090 --> 00:00:36.929 for healing. If there is a battle, we pray for 00:00:36.929 --> 00:00:41.090 victory. If there is a mountain, we ask God to 00:00:41.090 --> 00:00:43.490 move it. And there is nothing wrong with any 00:00:43.490 --> 00:00:46.049 of those prayers, because throughout Scripture, 00:00:46.409 --> 00:00:50.369 God reveals himself as the God who opens doors, 00:00:50.729 --> 00:00:54.310 divides, sees, defeats armies, heals diseases, 00:00:54.789 --> 00:00:58.030 calms storms, moves mountains, breaks chains, 00:00:58.250 --> 00:01:00.990 and makes a way where there seems to be no way. 00:01:01.210 --> 00:01:04.129 But there is another dimension of divine intervention 00:01:04.129 --> 00:01:07.569 that we do not talk about enough. Sometimes God 00:01:07.569 --> 00:01:10.569 does not remove what you are facing. Sometimes 00:01:10.569 --> 00:01:13.349 he does not immediately change the environment 00:01:13.349 --> 00:01:17.310 around you. Sometimes the sea remains deep. Sometimes 00:01:17.310 --> 00:01:20.769 the wilderness remains long. Sometimes the valley 00:01:20.769 --> 00:01:24.370 remains dark. Sometimes the fire remains hot. 00:01:24.730 --> 00:01:27.870 Sometimes the storm continues blowing. Sometimes 00:01:27.870 --> 00:01:30.930 the prison door does not immediately open. And 00:01:30.930 --> 00:01:34.579 yet... God has intervened because divine intervention 00:01:34.579 --> 00:01:38.079 is not only God changing what is happening around 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:41.980 you. Sometimes divine intervention is God sustaining 00:01:41.980 --> 00:01:45.159 you through what he has not yet changed. And 00:01:45.159 --> 00:01:47.319 perhaps that is one of the greatest mysteries 00:01:47.319 --> 00:01:50.299 of our journey with God. There are moments when 00:01:50.299 --> 00:01:53.340 God delivers you from something and there are 00:01:53.340 --> 00:01:56.200 moments when God carries you through something. 00:01:56.400 --> 00:01:59.579 Those are not the same kind of miracle. When 00:01:59.579 --> 00:02:02.480 God delivers you from something, you can often 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:05.640 point toward the moment when everything changed. 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:09.620 The door opened. The diagnosis changed. The enemy 00:02:09.620 --> 00:02:13.000 disappeared. The answer arrived. The battle ended. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:16.020 But when God carries you through something, the 00:02:16.020 --> 00:02:19.080 miracle can be much harder to recognize because 00:02:19.080 --> 00:02:22.460 the circumstances may look almost exactly the 00:02:22.460 --> 00:02:26.650 same. The fire is still there. The water is still 00:02:26.650 --> 00:02:29.969 rising. The wilderness is still stretching before 00:02:29.969 --> 00:02:34.210 you. The night is still dark. And yet somehow, 00:02:34.990 --> 00:02:38.349 you are still here. Somehow, what should have 00:02:38.349 --> 00:02:41.409 destroyed you did not destroy you. What should 00:02:41.409 --> 00:02:44.189 have broken you did not finish you. What should 00:02:44.189 --> 00:02:47.349 have swallowed you did not swallow you. What 00:02:47.349 --> 00:02:49.569 should have caused you to abandon your faith 00:02:49.569 --> 00:02:53.189 somehow drove your roots deeper into God. And 00:02:53.189 --> 00:02:56.460 when you look backward, You cannot fully explain 00:02:56.460 --> 00:02:59.520 how you made it. Maybe that is because there 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:02.139 are seasons of life that were never survived 00:03:02.139 --> 00:03:07.500 by your strength. You were carried. Part One 00:03:07.500 --> 00:03:11.479 There are miracles we only recognize afterward. 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:14.719 One of the difficulties with divine intervention 00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:17.500 is that we often expect to recognize it while 00:03:17.500 --> 00:03:21.060 it is happening. We expect something dramatic, 00:03:21.479 --> 00:03:24.900 something unmistakable. something that announces 00:03:24.900 --> 00:03:29.060 God has arrived. But scripture repeatedly shows 00:03:29.060 --> 00:03:32.099 us that some of God's greatest interventions 00:03:32.099 --> 00:03:35.240 are only understood when people look backward. 00:03:35.979 --> 00:03:38.419 Joseph did not understand the pit while he was 00:03:38.419 --> 00:03:41.639 inside it. He did not understand slavery while 00:03:41.639 --> 00:03:44.759 he was serving in Potiphar's house. He did not 00:03:44.759 --> 00:03:47.180 understand the prison while the door remained 00:03:47.180 --> 00:03:50.280 locked. There was no visible throne in the prison. 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:53.580 There was no royal robe hanging outside his cell. 00:03:53.900 --> 00:03:57.099 There was no announcement saying, Joseph, do 00:03:57.099 --> 00:04:00.020 not worry. This prison is actually a corridor 00:04:00.020 --> 00:04:03.419 leading toward Pharaoh's palace. All Joseph could 00:04:03.419 --> 00:04:06.280 see was the season he was living, but God could 00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:09.300 see where he was carrying him. And years later, 00:04:09.479 --> 00:04:12.180 Joseph could look backward and say to the brothers 00:04:12.180 --> 00:04:15.639 who had sold him, you intended to harm me, but 00:04:15.639 --> 00:04:18.860 God intended it for good. Notice when Joseph 00:04:18.860 --> 00:04:22.149 understood it. Not in the pit. Not while being 00:04:22.149 --> 00:04:25.970 sold. Not in Potiphar's house. Not while falsely 00:04:25.970 --> 00:04:29.689 accused. Not necessarily during those long nights 00:04:29.689 --> 00:04:32.889 in prison. He understood it from the other side. 00:04:33.110 --> 00:04:35.329 And there are things about your life that may 00:04:35.329 --> 00:04:38.269 only make sense from the other side. There are 00:04:38.269 --> 00:04:41.209 places where you are asking God for explanations 00:04:41.209 --> 00:04:45.670 while God is giving you preservation. There are 00:04:45.670 --> 00:04:49.149 seasons where you are asking God, why am I here? 00:04:49.269 --> 00:04:52.470 while heaven is saying, just keep trusting me 00:04:52.470 --> 00:04:55.550 because where you are is not where your story 00:04:55.550 --> 00:04:59.949 ends. This is why we must be careful about interpreting 00:04:59.949 --> 00:05:02.769 God's presence according to our circumstances 00:05:02.769 --> 00:05:06.050 because difficulty does not mean abandonment, 00:05:06.290 --> 00:05:09.389 silence does not mean absence, delay does not 00:05:09.389 --> 00:05:12.529 mean denial, and suffering does not automatically 00:05:12.529 --> 00:05:15.850 mean that God has stepped away. Sometimes God 00:05:15.850 --> 00:05:18.430 is closer than you realize precisely because 00:05:18.430 --> 00:05:22.629 the road has become harder. Isaiah 43 gives us 00:05:22.629 --> 00:05:24.829 one of the clearest pictures of this mystery. 00:05:25.430 --> 00:05:28.490 God says, When you pass through the waters, I 00:05:28.490 --> 00:05:30.970 will be with you. And when you pass through the 00:05:30.970 --> 00:05:33.930 rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you 00:05:33.930 --> 00:05:36.629 walk through the fire, you will not be burned. 00:05:36.910 --> 00:05:39.350 There is something extraordinary about those 00:05:39.350 --> 00:05:42.670 words. God does not say there will be no waters. 00:05:43.050 --> 00:05:46.509 He does not say there will be no rivers. He does 00:05:46.509 --> 00:05:50.050 not say there will be no fire. He promises something 00:05:50.050 --> 00:05:53.829 deeper. I will be with you. We often want the 00:05:53.829 --> 00:05:56.990 promise to read, when you approach the waters, 00:05:57.069 --> 00:06:00.610 I will remove them. But sometimes the promise 00:06:00.610 --> 00:06:03.810 is, when you pass through the waters, I will 00:06:03.810 --> 00:06:07.990 be with you. We want, when you see the fire, 00:06:08.250 --> 00:06:12.129 I will extinguish it. But sometimes God says, 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:15.100 When you walk through the fire, you will not 00:06:15.100 --> 00:06:18.899 be burned. That means the miracle is not always 00:06:18.899 --> 00:06:21.980 the disappearance of the fire. Sometimes the 00:06:21.980 --> 00:06:24.800 miracle is that the fire cannot destroy what 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:28.759 God has decided to preserve. Shadrach, Meshach, 00:06:28.920 --> 00:06:31.939 and Abednego discovered this. God could have 00:06:31.939 --> 00:06:34.279 prevented Nebuchadnezzar from throwing them into 00:06:34.279 --> 00:06:36.779 the furnace. He could have changed the king's 00:06:36.779 --> 00:06:39.160 heart. He could have extinguished the furnace. 00:06:39.480 --> 00:06:42.050 He could have sent rain. He could have caused 00:06:42.050 --> 00:06:44.449 the soldiers to drop them before reaching the 00:06:44.449 --> 00:06:48.089 flames. God had unlimited possibilities available 00:06:48.089 --> 00:06:51.230 to him, but he allowed them to enter the furnace. 00:06:52.009 --> 00:06:55.069 And then something happened that nobody expected. 00:06:56.110 --> 00:06:58.470 Nebuchadnezzar looked into the fire and asked, 00:06:59.129 --> 00:07:01.689 weren't there three men that we tied up and threw 00:07:01.689 --> 00:07:05.509 into the fire? They answered him, certainly your 00:07:05.509 --> 00:07:09.129 majesty. And then the king said something astonishing. 00:07:09.870 --> 00:07:13.910 I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound 00:07:13.910 --> 00:07:18.790 and unharmed. Do you see the mystery? God did 00:07:18.790 --> 00:07:22.069 not keep them from the fire. God met them in 00:07:22.069 --> 00:07:25.629 the fire. The environment did not have to change 00:07:25.629 --> 00:07:29.389 for God's presence to become real. And somebody 00:07:29.389 --> 00:07:32.769 needs to understand this distinction. You may 00:07:32.769 --> 00:07:37.069 have been praying, God get me out. And perhaps 00:07:37.069 --> 00:07:40.180 God is saying, I am going to get you through. 00:07:41.019 --> 00:07:43.980 You have been measuring divine intervention by 00:07:43.980 --> 00:07:47.399 whether the furnace disappears while heaven may 00:07:47.399 --> 00:07:49.939 be measuring the miracle by whether the furnace 00:07:49.939 --> 00:07:53.439 can destroy you. You have been waiting for God 00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:56.339 to remove the water while God has been giving 00:07:56.339 --> 00:08:00.060 you supernatural strength to cross it. You have 00:08:00.060 --> 00:08:02.980 been asking why the wilderness has not ended 00:08:02.980 --> 00:08:06.259 while God has been giving you manna every morning. 00:08:06.949 --> 00:08:09.930 You've been asking why the valley is still dark 00:08:09.930 --> 00:08:12.069 while the shepherd has never stopped walking 00:08:12.069 --> 00:08:16.129 with you and this brings us to Psalm 23 David 00:08:16.129 --> 00:08:19.629 does not say though I see the valley of the shadow 00:08:19.629 --> 00:08:23.329 of death God will give me another road He says 00:08:23.329 --> 00:08:25.829 even though I walk through the valley of the 00:08:25.829 --> 00:08:29.589 shadow of death I will fear no evil and then 00:08:29.589 --> 00:08:33.309 he gives the reason for you are with me not because 00:08:33.309 --> 00:08:36.629 the valley disappeared Not because David suddenly 00:08:36.629 --> 00:08:39.230 understood everything. Not because there were 00:08:39.230 --> 00:08:42.090 no enemies. Not because there was no shadow. 00:08:42.429 --> 00:08:45.250 But because presence changed the meaning of the 00:08:45.250 --> 00:08:48.669 valley. A valley without God is terrifying. A 00:08:48.669 --> 00:08:51.990 valley with the shepherd becomes a passage. Fire 00:08:51.990 --> 00:08:56.669 without God consumes. Fire with God becomes testimony. 00:08:57.210 --> 00:09:00.809 Deep waters without God can overwhelm you. But 00:09:00.809 --> 00:09:03.669 waters with God become something you pass through. 00:09:03.980 --> 00:09:07.580 The wilderness without God feels like abandonment, 00:09:08.019 --> 00:09:10.659 but the wilderness with God can become the place 00:09:10.659 --> 00:09:13.679 where you discover that man does not live by 00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:16.799 bread alone, but by every word that proceeds 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:19.799 from the mouth of God. And perhaps this is why 00:09:19.799 --> 00:09:23.000 there are seasons where God does not immediately 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:25.799 change your surroundings. Because there is something 00:09:25.799 --> 00:09:28.919 you can learn about God while being carried that 00:09:28.919 --> 00:09:31.840 you could never learn if every difficult road 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:34.779 disappeared before your feet touched it. There 00:09:34.779 --> 00:09:38.019 is a revelation of God that belongs to the valley. 00:09:38.279 --> 00:09:41.019 There is a revelation of God that belongs to 00:09:41.019 --> 00:09:43.679 the wilderness. There is a revelation of God 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:46.620 that belongs to the fire. There is a revelation 00:09:46.620 --> 00:09:49.679 of God that belongs to deep waters, and there 00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:52.980 is a revelation of God that only becomes visible 00:09:52.980 --> 00:09:56.860 when your own strength is no longer enough. Because 00:09:56.860 --> 00:10:00.000 as long as you can explain your survival by your 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:03.039 intelligence, your resources, your connections, 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:06.440 your experience, your strength or your ability, 00:10:06.779 --> 00:10:09.000 you may never recognize the hands underneath 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:12.679 you. But eventually, life can bring you somewhere 00:10:12.679 --> 00:10:15.779 where you know I could not have carried myself 00:10:15.779 --> 00:10:19.080 through this. And that is where another mystery 00:10:19.080 --> 00:10:22.879 of divine intervention begins. Because sometimes 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:26.759 God does not simply walk beside you, sometimes 00:10:26.759 --> 00:10:32.360 God carries you. Part two, the footprints you 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:35.860 misunderstood. And that brings me to a story 00:10:35.860 --> 00:10:39.679 that came back to my heart recently. It is a 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:42.519 story many of us may have heard in one form or 00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:46.139 another. But this time, I did not hear it merely 00:10:46.139 --> 00:10:50.200 as a beautiful story. I heard a revelation inside 00:10:50.200 --> 00:10:54.679 it. Imagine with me for a moment. A man is walking 00:10:54.679 --> 00:10:58.299 with God. At the beginning of the journey, the 00:10:58.299 --> 00:11:02.179 road is beautiful. The sun is shining. The path 00:11:02.179 --> 00:11:05.519 is visible. The ground beneath his feet is firm. 00:11:06.200 --> 00:11:09.220 And whenever the man looks behind him, he sees 00:11:09.220 --> 00:11:11.799 something that gives him tremendous comfort. 00:11:11.980 --> 00:11:16.080 Two sets of footprints. One belongs to Him. The 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:19.500 other belongs to God. And those footprints become 00:11:19.500 --> 00:11:23.059 evidence to Him that the promise is true. God 00:11:23.059 --> 00:11:27.000 is with me. God is walking beside me. God has 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:30.340 not abandoned me. But as the journey continues, 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:33.940 the landscape begins to change. The beautiful 00:11:33.940 --> 00:11:37.679 road slowly disappears, and before Him rises 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:41.389 a wilderness. The wilderness is dry. The path 00:11:41.389 --> 00:11:45.110 becomes uncertain. The distances become longer. 00:11:45.789 --> 00:11:49.009 There are days when the man does not know how 00:11:49.009 --> 00:11:52.169 much farther he must travel, but he continues 00:11:52.169 --> 00:11:55.730 walking because he remembers the promise. God 00:11:55.730 --> 00:11:59.289 is with me. Then the wilderness leads him toward 00:11:59.289 --> 00:12:03.049 a valley. The mountains rise around him. The 00:12:03.049 --> 00:12:06.610 light begins to disappear. The shadows become 00:12:06.610 --> 00:12:11.419 longer. The valley becomes darker. And suddenly 00:12:11.419 --> 00:12:14.419 the words of David are no longer something he 00:12:14.419 --> 00:12:18.740 merely reads in Psalm 23. He understands them. 00:12:19.740 --> 00:12:22.259 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow 00:12:22.259 --> 00:12:26.559 of death, now he knows what a valley feels like. 00:12:27.159 --> 00:12:29.740 There are places where you can no longer see 00:12:29.740 --> 00:12:34.279 very far ahead. Places where yesterday's confidence 00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:37.899 is not enough for today's road. Places where 00:12:37.899 --> 00:12:41.519 you know God made a promise. But everything surrounding 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:45.940 you seems to contradict what God said. Still, 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:49.279 the man keeps walking, then the valley leads 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:52.740 him into water. At first, the water reaches his 00:12:52.740 --> 00:12:56.580 ankles, then his knees, then his waist, then 00:12:56.580 --> 00:13:00.659 his chest. The current becomes stronger, every 00:13:00.659 --> 00:13:03.980 step becomes more difficult, and the words of 00:13:03.980 --> 00:13:07.620 Isaiah suddenly become personal. When you pass 00:13:07.620 --> 00:13:10.879 through the waters, I will be with you." So he 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:14.980 continues, but after the waters come mud. Heavy 00:13:14.980 --> 00:13:18.539 mud. The kind of ground that does not simply 00:13:18.539 --> 00:13:21.700 make the journey difficult, but seems determined 00:13:21.700 --> 00:13:25.340 to hold your feet where they are. Every step 00:13:25.340 --> 00:13:29.340 requires strength. Every movement becomes a battle. 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:33.399 And then, beyond the mud, he sees something he 00:13:33.399 --> 00:13:37.899 never expected. Fire. Now the journey is no longer 00:13:37.899 --> 00:13:41.139 merely uncomfortable. It is frightening. The 00:13:41.139 --> 00:13:44.960 heat becomes unbearable. The smoke obscures his 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:48.360 vision. Everything inside him wants to turn around. 00:13:48.980 --> 00:13:52.840 But there is nowhere to go except forward. So 00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:55.659 he walks through the fire, through the wilderness, 00:13:56.379 --> 00:13:59.539 through the valley, through the waters, through 00:13:59.539 --> 00:14:03.620 the mud, through the darkness, and eventually 00:14:03.620 --> 00:14:08.389 exhausted, wounded. Confused and barely understanding 00:14:08.389 --> 00:14:12.549 how he has survived, the man stops. He looks 00:14:12.549 --> 00:14:15.850 backward. And that is when he notices something, 00:14:16.590 --> 00:14:20.250 something that troubles him deeply. At the beginning 00:14:20.250 --> 00:14:22.990 of his journey, there were two sets of footprints, 00:14:23.570 --> 00:14:27.950 his and God's. But somewhere along the wilderness, 00:14:28.649 --> 00:14:32.710 there is only one. Through the valley, one. Through 00:14:32.710 --> 00:14:37.490 the water, one. Through the mud, one. Through 00:14:37.490 --> 00:14:42.230 the fire, one. And suddenly, his exhaustion becomes 00:14:42.230 --> 00:14:45.870 disappointment. Because the evidence seems obvious. 00:14:46.230 --> 00:14:49.830 When the journey was easy, God was there. But 00:14:49.830 --> 00:14:53.429 when the journey became unbearable, God's footprints 00:14:53.429 --> 00:14:57.370 disappeared. And perhaps, this is where the story 00:14:57.370 --> 00:15:00.389 becomes more than a story. Because there are 00:15:00.389 --> 00:15:05.330 seasons when we do exactly the same thing. We 00:15:05.330 --> 00:15:08.330 look backward at our lives and begin interpreting 00:15:08.330 --> 00:15:12.730 God through what we can see. God, when everything 00:15:12.730 --> 00:15:17.470 was going well, I could feel you. When my prayers 00:15:17.470 --> 00:15:20.149 would be an answer quickly, I could recognize 00:15:20.149 --> 00:15:23.769 you. When the doors were opening, I knew you 00:15:23.769 --> 00:15:27.269 were there. When the promise seemed close, I 00:15:27.269 --> 00:15:30.909 could see your hand. But when everything changed, 00:15:31.590 --> 00:15:34.500 where were you? Where were you when the night 00:15:34.500 --> 00:15:38.539 became long? Where were you when I cried and 00:15:38.539 --> 00:15:42.320 nothing changed? Where were you when people walked 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:47.179 away? Where were you when the door closed? Where 00:15:47.179 --> 00:15:50.059 were you when I did everything I knew to do and 00:15:50.059 --> 00:15:53.299 still found myself in the valley? Where were 00:15:53.299 --> 00:15:56.299 you when I prayed and the fire became hotter? 00:15:56.759 --> 00:16:00.279 Where were you when I obeyed you and still ended 00:16:00.279 --> 00:16:03.700 up in deep waters? Where were you when I could 00:16:03.700 --> 00:16:07.279 no longer understand what you were doing? And 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:10.860 the man finally turns toward God and asks the 00:16:10.860 --> 00:16:14.220 question that has been growing inside him throughout 00:16:14.220 --> 00:16:18.600 the journey. Lord, you told me you would never 00:16:18.600 --> 00:16:22.240 leave me. You told me you would never forsake 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:25.919 me. You told me that when I pass through the 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:29.299 waters, you would be with me. You told me that 00:16:29.299 --> 00:16:31.840 when I walk through the fire, I would not be 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:34.559 burned. You told me that even in the valley of 00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:37.759 the shadow of death, I should fear no evil, because 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:40.919 you would be with me. And at the beginning, I 00:16:40.919 --> 00:16:43.539 believed you, because I could see both sets of 00:16:43.539 --> 00:16:47.000 footprints. But look, Lord, when the wilderness 00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:50.700 became difficult, yours disappeared. When the 00:16:50.700 --> 00:16:54.480 valley became dark, yours disappeared. When the 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:58.259 waters became deep, yours disappeared. When the 00:16:58.259 --> 00:17:01.850 mud became heavy, Yours disappeared. When the 00:17:01.850 --> 00:17:06.130 fire became unbearable, yours disappeared. Why? 00:17:06.509 --> 00:17:08.890 Why did you leave me exactly when I needed you 00:17:08.890 --> 00:17:13.869 the most? And God answered, My child, look again. 00:17:14.549 --> 00:17:17.569 The man looked backward. The footprints had not 00:17:17.569 --> 00:17:21.109 changed. There was still only one set. And God 00:17:21.109 --> 00:17:24.730 said, You are right. There is only one set of 00:17:24.730 --> 00:17:27.910 footprints. But you have misunderstood what you 00:17:27.910 --> 00:17:31.539 are looking at. Those footprints are not yours. 00:17:32.259 --> 00:17:35.640 They are mine. When the road was easy enough 00:17:35.640 --> 00:17:39.720 for you to walk, I walked beside you. When you 00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:43.559 had strength, I strengthened you. When you could 00:17:43.559 --> 00:17:47.779 see the road, I guided you. But when the wilderness 00:17:47.779 --> 00:17:51.579 exhausted you, when the valley became too dark 00:17:51.579 --> 00:17:55.299 for you to navigate, when the waters became too 00:17:55.299 --> 00:17:59.089 deep for your feet, When the mud became too heavy 00:17:59.089 --> 00:18:02.549 for your strength and when the fire became too 00:18:02.549 --> 00:18:07.329 hot for you to endure I did not disappear. I 00:18:07.329 --> 00:18:10.890 picked you up The reason you cannot see your 00:18:10.890 --> 00:18:13.769 footprints is because your feet were no longer 00:18:13.769 --> 00:18:18.410 touching the ground You were in my arms You thought 00:18:18.410 --> 00:18:20.809 the single footprints were evidence that I had 00:18:20.809 --> 00:18:24.470 abandoned you They were evidence that I had carried 00:18:24.470 --> 00:18:29.390 you You thought you crossed those waters. I carried 00:18:29.390 --> 00:18:34.069 you. You thought you survived that fire. I carried 00:18:34.069 --> 00:18:37.269 you. You thought you found your way through that 00:18:37.269 --> 00:18:41.609 valley. I knew the way. You thought you somehow 00:18:41.609 --> 00:18:46.289 endured the wilderness. I sustained you. Enduring 00:18:46.289 --> 00:18:48.190 those nights when you wondered how you would 00:18:48.190 --> 00:18:52.980 make it until morning. I carried you. During 00:18:52.980 --> 00:18:55.019 those mornings when you woke up without enough 00:18:55.019 --> 00:18:59.740 strength for another day, I carried you. When 00:18:59.740 --> 00:19:03.039 your faith became weak, but somehow did not disappear, 00:19:04.279 --> 00:19:07.920 I carried you. When you could no longer pray 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:10.440 the way you used to pray, but something inside 00:19:10.440 --> 00:19:14.200 you still whispered the name of Jesus, I carried 00:19:14.200 --> 00:19:17.640 you. When you could not understand my plan, but 00:19:17.640 --> 00:19:21.079 somehow could not walk away from me, I carried 00:19:21.079 --> 00:19:24.380 you. You were looking for my footsteps beside 00:19:24.380 --> 00:19:27.900 yours while you were already resting in my arms. 00:19:28.740 --> 00:19:31.660 And church, there is a revelation here that I 00:19:31.660 --> 00:19:35.480 do not want us to miss. Sometimes what looks 00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:39.180 like the absence of God is actually a form of 00:19:39.180 --> 00:19:42.079 divine intervention you have not yet learned 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:45.460 to recognize. We think intervention must always 00:19:45.460 --> 00:19:48.960 change the scenery, but sometimes intervention 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:52.339 changes nothing about the scenery. and everything 00:19:52.339 --> 00:19:55.019 about whether the scenery is able to destroy 00:19:55.019 --> 00:19:58.880 you. The wilderness remains, the valley remains, 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:03.039 the water remains, the fire remains, but you 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:06.140 remain too. And perhaps somebody listening to 00:20:06.140 --> 00:20:09.220 me right now has been asking the wrong question. 00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:13.000 You have been asking, God, why haven't you removed 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:16.200 this? But perhaps tonight, heaven is asking you 00:20:16.200 --> 00:20:18.900 another question. How do you think you are still 00:20:18.900 --> 00:20:22.000 here? How did you survive something you were 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:24.640 certain would destroy you? How did you continue 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:27.319 believing after what happened? How did you get 00:20:27.319 --> 00:20:30.319 back up after losing the strength to stand? How 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:33.279 did your mind survive that season? How did your 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:36.359 family survive it? How did your faith survive 00:20:36.359 --> 00:20:39.400 it? How did your calling survive it? How did 00:20:39.400 --> 00:20:42.339 the enemy throw everything he could against you 00:20:42.339 --> 00:20:45.079 and yet something inside you refused to die? 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:48.250 Maybe you have been calling it survival. Heaven 00:20:48.250 --> 00:20:50.890 calls it grace. Maybe you have been calling it 00:20:50.890 --> 00:20:54.009 resilience. Heaven calls it sustaining power. 00:20:54.329 --> 00:20:56.509 Maybe you have been saying, I don't know how 00:20:56.509 --> 00:20:59.289 I made it. And God is answering, because you 00:20:59.289 --> 00:21:02.430 didn't make it by yourself. And this is not merely 00:21:02.430 --> 00:21:06.029 poetry, this is scripture. Because Moses looked 00:21:06.029 --> 00:21:09.009 back at Israel's wilderness journey and said 00:21:09.009 --> 00:21:13.069 in Deuteronomy 1 .31, the Lord your God carried 00:21:13.069 --> 00:21:16.890 you, as a father carries his son. All the way 00:21:16.890 --> 00:21:20.470 you went until you reached this place. Listen 00:21:20.470 --> 00:21:24.029 carefully to those words. Until you reached this 00:21:24.029 --> 00:21:27.690 place, there were places Israel walked. There 00:21:27.690 --> 00:21:30.630 were battles Israel fought. There were mornings 00:21:30.630 --> 00:21:34.170 Israel gathered manna. There were nights Israel 00:21:34.170 --> 00:21:37.309 slept beneath the wilderness sky. There were 00:21:37.309 --> 00:21:41.109 days when they complained. Days when they doubted. 00:21:41.289 --> 00:21:44.630 Days when they became afraid. Days when they 00:21:44.630 --> 00:21:47.549 wondered whether Egypt had been better than the 00:21:47.549 --> 00:21:51.190 uncertainty ahead of them. But when Moses looked 00:21:51.190 --> 00:21:55.190 backward over the entire journey, he gave them 00:21:55.190 --> 00:21:59.009 another interpretation of their history. You 00:21:59.009 --> 00:22:02.190 thought you crossed the wilderness. God carried 00:22:02.190 --> 00:22:05.670 you through it. And maybe one day, when you reach 00:22:05.670 --> 00:22:09.069 the place God promised you, you will look backward 00:22:09.069 --> 00:22:12.440 at the season you are living right now. and finally 00:22:12.440 --> 00:22:15.680 understand something you cannot understand today. 00:22:16.259 --> 00:22:18.880 You will see the fire. You will see the water. 00:22:19.259 --> 00:22:22.299 You will see the valley. You will see the wilderness. 00:22:22.759 --> 00:22:26.079 You will see the nights you cried. You will remember 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:29.119 the prayers that seemed unanswered. You will 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:31.920 remember the moments when you almost gave up. 00:22:32.180 --> 00:22:34.980 And then you will see those footprints, only 00:22:34.980 --> 00:22:39.039 one set. And you will finally understand. Those 00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:43.160 were not the days God abandoned you. Those were 00:22:43.160 --> 00:22:46.720 the days God carried you. And perhaps the greatest 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:50.299 evidence of divine intervention in some seasons 00:22:50.299 --> 00:22:53.559 of your life is not that the fire disappeared. 00:22:54.180 --> 00:22:57.660 It is that after everything you have been through, 00:22:58.220 --> 00:23:03.099 you are still here. When God carries you, and 00:23:03.099 --> 00:23:05.319 perhaps this is where we need to stop for today, 00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:08.680 Not because we have exhausted this revelation. 00:23:09.339 --> 00:23:13.059 Actually, we have barely begun. Because once 00:23:13.059 --> 00:23:16.160 I started looking deeper into scripture, I discovered 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:18.720 that the language of God carrying his people 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:22.200 appears again and again. Moses looked backward 00:23:22.200 --> 00:23:25.319 over 40 years of wilderness and told Israel, 00:23:25.640 --> 00:23:28.579 the Lord your God carried you as a father carries 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:32.059 his son. Isaiah speaks of a God who says, I have 00:23:32.059 --> 00:23:35.059 upheld you since your birth. I have carried you 00:23:35.059 --> 00:23:38.339 since you were born. Even to your old age and 00:23:38.339 --> 00:23:42.200 gray hairs I am he. I have made you and I will 00:23:42.200 --> 00:23:45.759 carry you. I will sustain you and I will rescue 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:49.400 you. And then Jesus gives us the picture of a 00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:52.759 shepherd who discovers that one sheep is missing, 00:23:53.420 --> 00:23:57.900 leaves the 99, searches until he finds it. And 00:23:57.900 --> 00:24:01.160 when he finds it, he does not simply point toward 00:24:01.160 --> 00:24:04.220 the road. and tell the exhausted sheep to find 00:24:04.220 --> 00:24:08.299 its own way home. He places it on his shoulders, 00:24:08.619 --> 00:24:12.380 and he carries it. There is something much deeper 00:24:12.380 --> 00:24:15.460 here that we need to explore, because perhaps 00:24:15.460 --> 00:24:18.740 being carried by God is not merely an emergency 00:24:18.740 --> 00:24:22.539 response to human weakness. Perhaps it reveals 00:24:22.539 --> 00:24:25.480 something about the very nature of our relationship 00:24:25.480 --> 00:24:29.500 with Him. Perhaps God carries us not simply because 00:24:29.500 --> 00:24:32.740 we have become weak, but because we belong to 00:24:32.740 --> 00:24:35.519 Him. And that is where our next conversation 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:38.519 must begin. Because there are still questions 00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:41.440 we have not answered. What does it actually mean 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:44.579 for God to carry a person? How does God carry 00:24:44.579 --> 00:24:47.940 us when we cannot physically see His arms? Does 00:24:47.940 --> 00:24:50.839 He carry us through His Spirit? Through His Word? 00:24:51.099 --> 00:24:53.700 Through supernatural strength? Through people 00:24:53.700 --> 00:24:57.220 He sends into our lives? Through doors He closes 00:24:57.220 --> 00:25:00.829 without explaining why? Through dangers he prevents 00:25:00.829 --> 00:25:03.809 us from ever seeing, through grace that keeps 00:25:03.809 --> 00:25:06.410 our minds together when circumstances should 00:25:06.410 --> 00:25:09.210 have broken us, through prayers being prayed 00:25:09.210 --> 00:25:12.009 for us when we do not even have enough strength 00:25:12.009 --> 00:25:14.730 to pray for ourselves, and what happens when 00:25:14.730 --> 00:25:17.609 God carries you through something but does not 00:25:17.609 --> 00:25:20.250 tell you where he is taking you. Because there 00:25:20.250 --> 00:25:23.130 is another dimension to being carried. When someone 00:25:23.130 --> 00:25:26.329 carries you, you are no longer controlling every 00:25:26.329 --> 00:25:29.000 step. You have surrendered the road. You have 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:31.559 surrendered the pace. You have surrendered the 00:25:31.559 --> 00:25:34.359 direction. You have surrendered the timing. And 00:25:34.359 --> 00:25:37.500 now you must trust the one whose arms are holding 00:25:37.500 --> 00:25:41.039 you. Maybe that is why some seasons are so uncomfortable. 00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:44.420 We are asking God to explain the road. While 00:25:44.420 --> 00:25:47.759 God is asking us to trust his arms, we want to 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:50.880 know where this is going. God says, trust me. 00:25:51.059 --> 00:25:54.680 We want to know when it will end. God says, trust 00:25:54.680 --> 00:25:58.299 me. We want to know why he allowed it. God says, 00:25:58.440 --> 00:26:01.339 trust me. We want to know what waits beyond the 00:26:01.339 --> 00:26:04.559 mountain. God says, you do not have to see where 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:07.599 I am taking you in order to know who is carrying 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:10.920 you. And maybe that is the word somebody needs 00:26:10.920 --> 00:26:14.259 tonight. You do not know where this road ends. 00:26:14.859 --> 00:26:17.240 You do not know how this situation will turn 00:26:17.240 --> 00:26:20.240 around. You do not know when the answer will 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:22.970 come. You do not know when the wilderness will 00:26:22.970 --> 00:26:25.670 become a promised land. You do not know when 00:26:25.670 --> 00:26:28.869 the night will finally become morning. But perhaps 00:26:28.869 --> 00:26:31.869 God has not asked you to know. Perhaps he has 00:26:31.869 --> 00:26:34.890 asked you to trust. Because a child being carried 00:26:34.890 --> 00:26:37.890 by his father does not need to understand the 00:26:37.890 --> 00:26:41.009 geography. He only needs to recognize the father. 00:26:41.089 --> 00:26:44.230 And if you recognize the one carrying you, you 00:26:44.230 --> 00:26:47.029 can rest even while the landscape is changing. 00:26:47.230 --> 00:26:49.569 You can rest while passing through the valley. 00:26:49.690 --> 00:26:52.670 You can rest while crossing the waters. You can 00:26:52.670 --> 00:26:55.369 rest while walking through territory you have 00:26:55.369 --> 00:26:58.390 never seen before. Because your security is no 00:26:58.390 --> 00:27:01.490 longer in understanding the road. Your security 00:27:01.490 --> 00:27:04.470 is in knowing the one holding you. So tonight, 00:27:04.809 --> 00:27:07.369 before we close this conversation, I want you 00:27:07.369 --> 00:27:10.450 to look backward. Look at the valleys you survived. 00:27:10.730 --> 00:27:13.500 Look at the fires that did not consume you. Look 00:27:13.500 --> 00:27:16.400 at the waters that did not sweep you away. Look 00:27:16.400 --> 00:27:19.700 at the doors that closed and somehow redirected 00:27:19.700 --> 00:27:22.079 your life. Look at the nights you thought would 00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:24.539 never end. Look at the moments when you were 00:27:24.539 --> 00:27:27.160 certain you could not continue. And then ask 00:27:27.160 --> 00:27:30.660 yourself one question. If I truly had no strength 00:27:30.660 --> 00:27:34.589 left, who carried me? Maybe those footprints 00:27:34.589 --> 00:27:36.890 you have been looking at all these years were 00:27:36.890 --> 00:27:39.730 never yours. Maybe the evidence you interpreted 00:27:39.730 --> 00:27:42.809 as abandonment was actually evidence of intimacy. 00:27:43.589 --> 00:27:46.009 Maybe the season where you felt God the least 00:27:46.009 --> 00:27:48.569 was the season where his arms were holding you 00:27:48.569 --> 00:27:52.450 the closest. And maybe the testimony is not simply, 00:27:52.890 --> 00:27:56.529 I made it. Maybe the testimony is, he carried 00:27:56.529 --> 00:27:59.630 me. He carried me when I could not understand. 00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:02.900 He carried me when I could not see. He carried 00:28:02.900 --> 00:28:05.759 me when I could barely pray. He carried me when 00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:09.079 the fire became hot. He carried me when the waters 00:28:09.079 --> 00:28:11.779 became deep. He carried me through the valley. 00:28:12.019 --> 00:28:14.500 He carried me through the wilderness. He carried 00:28:14.500 --> 00:28:17.079 me through the night. And if I am standing here 00:28:17.079 --> 00:28:19.819 today, it is not because I was strong enough 00:28:19.819 --> 00:28:22.599 to survive everything that came against me. It 00:28:22.599 --> 00:28:25.180 is because the God who promised never to leave 00:28:25.180 --> 00:28:28.380 me was faithful enough to carry me. And we are 00:28:28.380 --> 00:28:31.720 not finished. In conversation four of the mystery 00:28:31.720 --> 00:28:34.619 of divine intervention, we are going to continue 00:28:34.619 --> 00:28:37.579 this revelation and go deeper into what scripture 00:28:37.579 --> 00:28:41.420 means when God says, I will carry you. We are 00:28:41.420 --> 00:28:44.700 going to explore the father who carries his children. 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:47.859 The shepherd who places the lost sheep upon his 00:28:47.859 --> 00:28:51.140 shoulders. The God who sustains us from birth 00:28:51.140 --> 00:28:55.380 to old age. And the mysterious ways divine intervention 00:28:55.380 --> 00:28:58.799 can be operating in our lives even when we cannot 00:28:58.799 --> 00:29:02.359 recognize it. Because sometimes God changes the 00:29:02.359 --> 00:29:05.279 battle. Sometimes God changes what is coming 00:29:05.279 --> 00:29:08.880 against you. Sometimes God opens the sea. Sometimes 00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:12.240 God closes the mouth of the lion. Sometimes God 00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:15.859 steps into the furnace. And sometimes, God does 00:29:15.859 --> 00:29:19.019 something far more intimate. He picks you up. 00:29:19.140 --> 00:29:22.539 So until our next conversation, if the road becomes 00:29:22.539 --> 00:29:25.660 difficult, if the valley becomes dark, if the 00:29:25.660 --> 00:29:28.440 waters become deep, and if you look backward 00:29:28.440 --> 00:29:31.420 and suddenly see only one set of footprints, 00:29:32.140 --> 00:29:35.920 do not immediately assume God disappeared. Look 00:29:35.920 --> 00:29:40.279 again. Those footprints may not be yours. You 00:29:40.279 --> 00:29:42.839 may have reached the part of your story where 00:29:42.839 --> 00:29:46.700 God started carrying you. This is Pomoja Ministry. 00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:51.980 One conversation, one story, one revelation at 00:29:51.980 --> 00:29:55.279 a time. And I will meet you again in our next 00:29:55.279 --> 00:29:58.819 conversation as we continue exploring the mystery 00:29:58.819 --> 00:30:00.119 of divine intervention.