”I will be your God throughout your lifetime – until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you” (Isaiah 46:4 NLT).
As long as I can remember, I have been told that God would care for me if I was faithful and obedient to Him. He would provide for me, pick me up when I was down, and even carry me when I could not walk on my own. No story illustrates this better than “Footprints in the Sand.” No one knows who the author was, he/she is referred to as “author unknown.” When one reads the story, I believe the author becomes obvious (God).
God loves us, we are His most cherished creations. He cares for us and he is always there to pick us up or even carry us through difficult and troubled times. Perhaps the prophet Isaiah saw this story as he looked ahead and wrote Isaiah 46:4. The parallels between Isaiah and “Footprints in the Sand” are striking.
Footprint in the Sand One night a man had a dream. He dreamed that he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand. One belonging to him, and the other to the LORD.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life, there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest points of his life.
This really bothered him, and he questioned the LORD about it. LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why, when I needed you most, you would leave me.
The LORD replied, my precious, precious child, I love you, and I would never leave you! During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.
Even in times when we think that God has turned His back on us, or He is too busy to deal with our problems, he is always there.
It is not God who turns His back on us from time to time, but us who turn our backs on Him. A big portion of the Bible is about Israel turning its back on God, being rebellious, being ”stiff-necked”, and disobeying God. The Bible shows us that God has turned His back on Israel several times, but that has always been punishment for Israel’s disobedience and rejecting the Word of God. He has never stopped loving His most precious creation. We are His children, and even when we misbehave and have to be punished, He welcomes us back with open arms and love.
The righteous, the faithful, the obedient; have problems, trials, and troubles in their lives. The tools of the devil are always at work. But God’s love, his patience, and compassion are always there. When we are so down, so defeated, so dejected we can’t find the strength to go on, in the worst times of our life; that is when He picks us up and carries us. Those are the times when you see one set of “Footprints in the Sand,”, the footprints of God.