​McGregor Together --- Journey Together --- Together on Tuesdays --- Working Together --- Connecting Together --- Staying Together --- When was the last time you contemplated the importance of togetherness?  With all the warnings and immediate necessity for “social distancing” in the wake of the widespread health crisis, individuals have been hard-pressed to discover and implement unique forms of “togetherness” with others.  We are facing an unusual longing for closeness with one another now that physical contact has been temporarily limited and prohibited in multiple venues. 
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Consider this illustration:
A man was walking in a wilderness.  He became lost and was unable to find his way out.  Another man met him.  “Sir, I am lost, can you show me the way out of this wilderness?”  “No,” said the stranger, “I cannot show you the way out of the wilderness, but maybe if I walk with you, we can find it together.” (Emery Nester, Stories for the Heart)
I don’t know about you, but I have felt lost in a pandemic wilderness the past few weeks and I don’t know how to find my way out.  I surely don’t want to navigate this unfamiliar and frightening territory by myself all alone.  We were not made for social distancing, but for togetherness and community and close relationships.  Before sin ever entered the world and ushered in separation and broken relationships, the Lord God explained in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good for the man to be alone.  I will make a helper who is just right for him.”  The Lord God cared so much about His creation joining together in close fellowship and remaining united together as one that He created humanity in His own image to experience a personal relationship with Him as Creator (Genesis 1:26).  In addition, He designed the union between the first man and woman to endure together and never be split apart since He was the One who joined them together as one flesh (Matthew 19:6).   Jesus Himself even stated in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three gather together as My followers, I am there among them.”  Coming together as followers of Jesus in the presence of the Lord is a vital component of our faith journey.  Without it, we can feel lost and alone.

Dictionary.com defines togetherness as: warm fellowship, as among members of a family.  I like that description.  Apostle Paul understood what we are facing today as a church family when he experienced a deep longing himself to gather together with his church family while he was confined in isolation within a prison cell.  But that did not deter Paul from reaching out and connecting to his fellow believers through a different form, a letter, simply titled Philippians.  He desired to continue to encourage this group of Christ-followers facing difficult circumstances to focus on the hope of their eternal togetherness with their Savior, even though their earthly togetherness had been hindered and altered in way they did not prefer.  Paul might have been physically separated from this church body in Philippi, but not spiritually alienated. 
In Philippians 1:27-30 (NLT), Paul wrote:
 27 Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News. 28 Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God Himself. 29 For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for Him. 30 We are in this struggle together.

Even though you may be temporarily socially isolated, you are not alone.  We are joint citizens of Heaven through a permanent relationship with Jesus Christ.  Let’s stand together with one spirit and one purpose and fight together for the faith of the Good News about Christ.  The Sovereign God has the power to save you from the power of the invisible enemy, but more importantly, to redeem and deliver you from sin and eternal separation from Him.  So, let’s keep trusting Christ together and suffering together for Him because we are in this struggle together.  And together with Jesus is the best place to be, since He is the only One who can show us the way out of this wilderness, so let’s continue to follow His lead.
Only by His Grace,
Tamar Miller

Do you feel tested in many ways right now? My patience is being tested, my finances are being tested, my grocery list and creativity in food preparation are being tested, my schedule and my activities are being tested, and these are just a few of them.
In the meantime, if we are honest, we have many questions coming and going in our heads, questions like: How long will this last? What could be my worst-case scenario? What is my plan B? How bad can things get? What is God doing through all this? Is He going to stop this? When? Can we trust Him that He cares? Is He listening to our prayers?
All these thoughts and questions come from our own worldview, and it is very normal. We are people living in a fallen world and we do not have all the answers.
But what if we would change our perspective for a minute? What if we could see some things from God’s perspective? How would we do that?
The best way is to look at a person in the Bible who was going through a lot, asked many questions, had many thoughts and God answered that person with His perspective. In the Book of Job, after many chapters of Job thinking, talking, and complaining, God came and changed Job’s perspective.
We can learn several things on God’s perspective from Job’s story.
Perspective #1: God created all things and is Sovereign over all things. Job 38
If you read God’s response to Job’s thoughts, words and complains you see God’s perspective by all the questions He asks of Job that starts with” Where were you when… Tell me if you understand… Who determined…Who stretched…Where is…Who has put wisdom…Who provides…?” In all this God is saying that He is God and He is sovereign over all things that includes food, shelter, weather, heaven and earth.
Perspective #2: We have limited knowledge. Job 38
Look at the other series of questions God is asking from Job in the same chapter “Tell me…Have you commanded…Have you entered…Have you comprehended…Can you send….Can you hunt….Can you send forth…Can you number…?” God knows we have limited knowledge and understanding. Isaiah 55:9 says, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  Some things we just don’t understand, and we must trust that God in His sovereign wisdom knows what He is doing.
Perspective #3: God can use suffering to test us even when we are upright and fear God.
Job 1:8 “And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
James 1:2-4 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
The ultimate goal of any test of faith is for me to mature, to be complete and to be lacking nothing. This is not punishment; it is love. The same way when you take away the third cookie from your child’s hand, it is not punishment. It is love. God as our Father is a source of all the tests of our faith, and ultimately the test of our faith is for our good and for His glory.
So what should we learn from Job’s response?

1. Weep and pray - You see that Job never turns away from God. Even though he is questioning why he was born, in the end he trusts and knows that there has to be a God or there is nobody to be mad at. There has to be a God or who is going to fight evil?  Some people say if you trust God, you shouldn’t be too upset. The answer in the Bible is, trust God and you can be really upset. Look at Jesus Christ who said “Thy will be done!” Yet He was crying out on the cross “Father, father, why have you forsaken me?” Cry out but cry out to the Father.

2.Trust and think – God has unlimited power. He is sovereign over all things. He is your Heavenly Father and He loves you. Trust. Also think back at all the times He was faithful to you in the midst of your past struggles. Read old journals. Start a new journal of thanksgiving and think back on His faithfulness.
3.Prioritize and love - Very often when suffering hits, you have to rearrange your priorities. Rearrange and put forward what is really Important to you.  Maybe you love some things more than you ought to. Then love. Job prayed for his friends. He loved his family and his neighbors. Jesus said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-40
Encourage and pray for each other.

Krisztina White