Our Rear Guard

“Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple…and His mother said to Him… ‘why have you treated us like this? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.’” Luke 2:46, 48

Very little is written about the childhood of Jesus but it is no coincidence that God included this snapshot in time for us to consider. Anyone who has ever been responsible for a child for a day or a lifetime knows the frightening reality of that child wandering away. This happened several times to me when my children were young and that moment in time seemed like an eternity until I laid my eyes on their little frame again. While traveling home from Jerusalem Mary and Joseph assumed Jesus was in one of the groups traveling with them. It wasn’t until late in the first day’s journey that they discovered that they had left Jesus behind. They were frantic and immediately turned and headed back to find Jesus. The first thing Mary said to the boy Jesus may be the first thing we have said in our own adversity to the Savior Jesus… ‘Why has this happened to us and where have You been? We couldn’t find You and we have been so upset at your absence!’

How many times has anxiety riddled our frames as we search for Jesus in our circumstances? We think He is with us but then we feel as if He has chosen to remain behind. We frantically pray for His presence scouring the horizon trying to see Him… hear Him…find Him. We need not look in any other direction than to God to find Jesus. Jesus is seated at God’s right and He lovingly and faithfully whispers interceding messages to our Father on our behalf. He fully understands our pain because nothing we have experienced is uncommon to Jesus.

This morning as I thought about young Jesus’s response to His mom, I realized that what He was saying to her is the same message He whispers to us. ‘Why are you worried? I’m right here and through faith you can be confident of that. I’m all about doing God’s business in the temple of your heart. Together we can weather this storm …together we can heal your heart…together we will see that all things are possible through God.' If we are anxiously searching for Jesus we only need to be still and know that He is with us, around us and within us to guide and to guard every aspect of our lives.

"But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the LORD will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard." Isaiah 52:12