IN THE RUBBLE AND THE RUIN

(Post by: Lilly Hobbs)

I don’t like to admit it, in fact, I would say I despise admitting it, but I love familiarity. I really, really do. I am someone who can easily get in my own groove, worry about and fix my own problems, and settle into a routine that keeps me feeling safe.

Perhaps I am more like Bilbo Baggins, who loves his quiet little home and doesn’t enjoy taking risks, than I had originally thought.

I have learned, however, as I am quite sure many of you have, that life feels very unfamiliar at almost every stage.

After December of 2023, I find myself scared of change and unfamiliar things.

My family and I experienced so much loss that affected each of us quite deeply, along with many of the people closest to us.

We lost Ruby, our beloved family dog. We had to leave our home church of 20+ years due to some very hard and difficult circumstances. We lost two dear friends. Our mom decided to quit working for the company she had been with for over ten years and start a new job. The list goes on and on.

I walked into 2024 feeling estranged from all that I had known, from the things that made my life my life, from familiarity, or really anything comfortable.

These specific song lyrics from a song called, “Not Finished Yet” by Chris Renzema kept rolling around in my mind at the beginning of the year, and I have done my fair share of wrestling with them since.

The song says…

When I’m scared and my eyes they can’t see you
Are You still there?
Are You gonna pull me through?
When everything else is gone
And You’re all that remains
In the rubble and the ruin

You’re not finished yet

Believe me, I have asked the Lord if He was still there, and if He was going to pull me through more times than I think I could count over the course of this year. But what a beautiful truth the line after these questions contains!

When everything else is gone
And You’re all that remains
In the rubble and the ruin

The beautiful truth I feel as though I am learning daily is that while everything around me appears to be rubble and ruin, and all of it is so very unfamiliar, the Lord is proving His good and faithful character to me.

He is all that remains in the rubble and the ruin, He is my familiar thing.

What I want to speak over you today, dear readers, is that maybe the Lord is using what is unfamiliar to make you more familiar with Him, with His heart, with His great love for you that will always remain.

Isaiah 41:10-13 says, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish. You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all. For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

The Lord is teaching me in new ways that He wants to be my everything, but I must allow Him to be more than enough in a season where I could allow the rubble and ruin to devastate me.

C. S. Lewis once wrote, “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”

How true this is in my life. Perhaps it is true in your life as well.

It may be painful, but we will never be alone. When everything else is gone, He is all that remains, even in the rubble and the ruin.

“Go back?” Bilbo thought. “No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!” So up he got, and trotted along with his little sword held in front of him and one hand feeling the wall, and his heart all of a patter and a pitter.” – The Hobbit (J. R. R. Tolkien)

SO, WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?

= Are you in an unfamiliar season of life right now? How so?

= How have you witnessed the goodness of the Lord in your life this year?

= What are you going to do differently?