Staring Down A Barrel

“You ain’t seen God until you’re staring down a barrel”

A problem-free life is an illusion – a mirage in the desert. We all walk through life expecting it to be all colourful and you imagine your life to be a movie, where it all ends well. But sometimes when you wake up from that dream, you are stuck with a reality, a harsh one at that, you realise it ain’t all happy and awesome. Life throws trouble at you, and it throws some big ones. And when you are faced with trouble and when you have nowhere to go, God is by your side. He is there when you need him the most. When you are staring down the barrel of a gun that life throws at you, you see God. You may see nobody else but all you need is the presence of God next to you. You see the only One you really want to see in a situation like that.

Sometimes when troubles come our way, we don’t see an out and for us it may feel like everything around is dark and we so desperately need to see God that we don’t find him, but He’s there. To wrestle with God, to present our complaints to him, to cry out in despair when the entire world seems to be crashing down around us, is in fact an act of faith.  You don’t swim furiously toward a lifeline unless you believe that it is there.  You also don’t contend with a God who doesn’t exist.  The cry of lament is a cry to a God who we know is there, a God we know can save us, a God we know can comfort us.

Maybe in your life, you are waiting for a last-minute miracle, you are looking down a barrel, and all you hear is emptiness and your life flashing in front of you and everything seems lost and over. When you are staring down that barrel, you see God. The one who parts the sea, the one who would do anything to get to you and to comfort you and to let you know He is by your side.  The next time you are staring down a barrel, you are not alone, He’s there with you. Just like he promised, just the way he said he would and just the way he had done before in your life. Nobody wants to be in that position, if given a choice, nobody would choose it, but that’s life and you don’t get to pick what you want, this ain’t a Subway sandwich. But whatever it is that you face, the greatest comfort lies in knowing that He is with you by your side.

“You experience him the most when you need Him the most”