God Knows Where to Find Us

Have you ever heard of a place called Nain? Chances are, even though you haven’t heard of the place, you have been there just the same.

 Have you ever had days that you felt insignificant, unnoticed, or invisible?   Days where you wondered if God really could see all that you were going through? If you answered yes to any of these, then you have been to Nain. 

Maybe in this place, you have even asked the straightforward question, “God, do you care?” Maybe in this place, you have stopped asking. Too many harsh things have happened that you now simply accept everything that comes your way as things are and always will be. 

No more questioning, no more seeking answers, and no more wrestling. If you have ever found yourself in any of these places, then yes, you have been to Nain. That dead-end place in the middle of nowhere. That down-on-your-luck and off-the-beaten-path place. A place where you have lost all hope that things will work out in your life. 

Have you ever struggled to make ends meet and wondered how you would make it in the days ahead? If you have ever asked God to help make way for you to find work, pay your bills, or put food on your table then you have been to this place called Nain.

When you read through the Bible, you will miss this place called Nain if you don’t pay close attention, for it is only mentioned once. Nain is tucked away in Luke 7:11, which says, “And it came to pass after that he went into a city called Nain and many of His disciples went with him and many people. Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.”  

Why would Jesus go to such a place as Nain? Jesus had just come from visiting the Centurion and his son in the prestigious Capernaum. Capernaum, I can understand, but why visit Nain? 

Because not even a seemly insignificant nameless widow could escape the caring eye of Jesus.  A woman so far down on the social ladder that she wasn’t even given a name in scripture. Unimportant to the world but substantial enough for Jesus to visit. He saw her and came to her aid. It doesn’t tell you in scripture that she had even heard of Jesus or had asked him to come. She had no husband, no son, no income, was heartbroken, and what looked to be no way out of her situation. A place seemingly hidden, but Jesus always knows the way to Nain. 

Jesus so relentlessly pursues us.  He comes after us when we are in despair, down and out, and destroyed my life.  He raises us to give us hope in our troubles.  Raises our dead hearts from the ashes. Remedies our grim outlooks. Sits with us when quietness is all we hear after the last conversations of severed relationships have taken place. Places we despair even of life. 

He answers us even when we are so beaten down by life that we are too weary of asking or have no idea what to ask for. For it is in those times that we don’t know what to ask for that we discover that the Holy Spirit already does “for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are speaking, I will hear.”  (Romans 8:26-28)

We are never out of sight and out of the mind of our Savior. Jesus sees us and follows hard after us. We are never too far down and out that He can’t find us, nor are we so without hope that He can’t redeem, deliver, heal and set us free. We are never unimportant. Even in our very own places like Nain, He finds us.  

So friend, allow me to remind you in case you have forgotten…

He knows where You are. He sees You.

Jesus nailed all our hopelessness to the Cross, bringing new life to our sin-crushed lives when He rose from the dead.  And even graves are never allowed to have the final say, even in towns called Nain. 

And a God that will go to the grave on your behalf will never suffer you to do without all you need in this life.  He will make a way for you because He sees and cares for You. 

He will find you today in your place called Nain. 

See you in the field, 

Susan

Luke 12: 22 -31

And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 

 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 

Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 

 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!  

And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 

 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.”