People of faith believe that God is always with us. At some times we fail to recognise God’s presence.

“Footprints in the Sand” is frequently framed for display in living rooms and bedrooms. You can buy keychains and tea towels and decorative plates featuring this well-known piece of writing. It’s not scripture, but “Footprints in the Sand” does offer hope for those who recognise God’s promises between the lines.

Terry Lees explains that Footprints in the Sand is one of the most beautiful writings on the love God has for us. God is everywhere, every time and with everybody.

Listen to the episode below, or continue on to read the transcript.

Episode Transcript:

People of faith believe that God is always with us. At some times we fail to recognise God’s presence. However, God is everywhere, every time and with everybody.

The poem “Footprints in the Sand” is frequently framed for display in living rooms and bedrooms. You can buy keychains and tea towels and decorative plates featuring this well-known piece of writing. It’s not scripture, but “Footprints in the Sand” does offer hope for those who recognise God’s promises between the lines.

One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
“Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You’d walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”

He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you.”

 

The tone of this modern poem is suggestive of the Psalms, speaking directly to God about personal struggles, a person questioning God in confusion. The modern Christian reading this poem can easily apply it to the challenges of daily life. In the 4^th stanza, the Father says “My precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you.” This is what the Lord has promised in the Bible, in Deuteronomy (31:6): “Be strong and steadfast; have no fear or dread of them, for it is the LORD, your God, who marches with you; he will never fail you or forsake you.” What was true of God then is true today — God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

By the blood of His Son Jesus Christ, God has fulfilled the promise to be with us all the time and keeps that promise by not only being omnipresent, but by giving the Christian a helper in the form of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

“Footprints” connects direction, identity, and example with the promises of God. God protects. God also equips people to follow. The wise Apostle Paul prayed that God would “furnish you with all that is good, that you may do his will. May he carry out in you what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever.” (Hebrews 13:20-21)

Footprints in the Sand is one of the most beautiful writings on the love God has for us. God loves all of us equally and is always there for us in our good and lean periods. We all go through difficult and tough situations and perhaps don’t have a sense of God being present.  We might not realise it in the moment yet looking back we can see where God has guided and helped us to overcome. God gives comfort and helps to ease pain.

God is not visible, yet then again neither is the air that we breathe. Just because we can’t see the air we breathe, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. We know it is there, we trust it is there, we would cease to breathe – and therefore to live – if the air was not there. In the same way, people of faith believe and trust in the presence of God.

In troubling times, I take comfort knowing that God is in this place. I see, feel and experience the presence of God in everyone and everything. God is always with me – I am never alone. I encounter God in Quiet Times, in other people and creatures, in nature, and in times of trial, trouble and tragedy. God’s brightest presence has sometimes been hidden in my darkest places. God is with me because God tells me so – and I believe.

In 1908, author Minnie Louise Haskins wrote: And I said to the one who stood at the gate of the year, “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied, ‘Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.’ So, I went forth, and finding the hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And he led me towards the hills and the breaking of the day in the lone east. Her words are as true today as they were in 1908 or at any time.

If life is a journey, we are all pilgrims on the journey. We need to make our own way as we live our own lives. Don’t let your life be a walk along the path of someone who has no understanding for what you want for your life. Walk your own path.

Don’t be afraid of the unknown. We don’t have to seek God; we are already in the presence of God. Trust in God, even in the darkness. God is in this place.

Look for the silver lining.

This is Terry Lees

[Music: Put Your Hand in the Hand – Anne Murray]