HE'S THERE!

Truth is the torch that gleams through the fog without dispelling it.  - -Claude Adrien Helvetius

They were there. We knew they were there. But if our own eyes were to be believed, they were definitely not.

My husband loves to visit them, those four presidents up on that South Dakota Mount Rushmore. I believe even he has lost count of how many times we’ve made the trek out from Rapid City to call on George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt.

Traveling from the west on a fine summer sunny evening, all appeared set for a grand viewing of Gutzon Borglum’s carved masterpiece. But as we approached, things got darker and foggy fears  began to intrude. This had never happened before! Winding our way past  some frolicking domestic bison and a small herd of tiny deer gamboling playfully in the ditch, we started to think this presidential peek might just be a big fat bust, pun intended. Our four former heads of state were hidden, our view totally obscured, as in  “you’re not seeing the monument today, guys!”

Thick fog had completely obliterated our view of Mt. Rushmore. We know for a fact it was there—had some of our history’s most famous personages taken a tumble down the mountainside, it surely would have been classified as a breaking news story.

 Truth was, our eyes could not be believed. We could not see what was right there in front of us, much like what happens sometimes when we are in the midst of a great difficulty in our lives, a personal tragedy or a devastating illness.

At times like those we need to forget what our eyes see or don’t see and remember what God has said in the past: "This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."  (Joshua 1:9) The never-changing truth is that even though trouble might obscure our perception of peace for a while, the Lord is always there, loving and caring for us even though we might forget and think perhaps He’s left us. “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.’" (Hebrews 13:5c)

Fog might restrict visibility for a time, but fog is no match for the gleaming torches of our spiritual eyes! The Lord is there!

 

 

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