Hidden...Restless...Wanderer

This week "Shamia" decided to go to Greensboro (If this doesn't make sense, read my previous post).  For one or several of a multitude of reasons she decided Anthony's Plot was not where she wanted to stay.  I wrestled in my heart to know how to respond to her when she called asking me to take her to Greensboro.  "You have other options?"  "Why wouldn't you want to stay in the beautiful community that is Anthony's Plot?"  "Is your Greensboro contact going to let you stay there indefinitely or will you end up in the same situation?"  "Are you going to call when you are homeless again?"  Each internal question was smeared with mixed emotions and motivations.  I couldn't help grapple with the question of whether I did enough. After asking God this question, I was encouraged by the Holy Spirit's confirmation that I (and Anthony's Plot of course) was obedient to care for Shamia during the days that God placed her in Winston-Salem.  She heard the name of Christ and saw His love and compassion displayed very visibly during a time of great need. 

So quickly she came into my life and now so quickly she is seemingly out.  And yet in the aftermath the image of a 21 year old woman who is in many ways hidden, restless, and wandering is seared in my heart.  This whirlwind brought me back to sin.  Not Shamia's sin specifically, but the general effects of sin in this world.

In Genesis 1 & 2 God creates and in His creation we see His character.  In the first two verses we understand Him as a God who will shape, fill, and enlighten.  This will happen fully in Christ who is foreshadowed in verse 3 (check out II Corinthians 4:6).  He creates all things as good; man and woman - created in His image - are very good.  In these opening chapters we see God creating His Kingdom.  God as Creator and King rules in such a way that His creation flourishes.  His intended order allows creation to thrive.  Although man has dominion over the earth, he is still subject to God.  It is when man attempts to be like God through disobedience that we see sin enter the world.  The effects are all encompassing and devastating!  Not only does sin seperate us from our Creator, but (as Tim Keller articulates) it also seperates us from ourselves, each other, and creation. 

In the next chapters of Genesis we quickly see the practical effects of sin:

"So the Lord God banished him (Adam) from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.  After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life." Genesis 3:23, 24

"Cain (who killed his brother Abel) said to the Lord, 'My punishment is more than I can bear.  Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth...'" Genesis 4: 13, 14 

Within the first two human generations, sin drives man from God's presence and results in restless wandering.  And it only gets worse.  By the eleventh chapter of Genesis, God has both destroyed creation (except for pairs of animals and Noah's family) because of the degree of wickedness that existed in man's heart, but also confused languages of peoples and scattered humanity across the face of the earth. 

This is the backdrop of God creating a people unto Himself - a group that was to be set apart, different, holy.  Whereas the effect of sin was that man is hidden, restless, and wandering, now God created a people who are found, have rest, and belong.  In God's Kingdom, His people are to care for one another so that no one among them in is need.  If there is a stranger among them, they are to be taken into their community.  This is the mandate for the church; a witness of being found by God.  Consequently it should grieve us to see a person who is hidden, restless, and wandering (both physically and spiritually).  We should long for them to be seen, known, and find a place of rest.

This of course is accomplished perfectly through Jesus.  He is the great finder of lost sheep and the one who gives rest.  In His family is a sense of belonging and purpose. 

With all this being said, what should my response be to Shamia?  The same as God's response to me.  In the words of the hymnist, Robert Robinson,

3. Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

4. O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Shamia physical reality should grieve me (and I should seek to meet her physical needs) but more so it should point me to my spiritual reality.  Apart from Christ, I am hidden, restless, and wandering.  Praise God that I am found and at rest in Him.