Never Unwatched, Never Alone

The average reader of history is aware that jargon and tastes change, but human nature, needs, and desires remain pretty much the same.
In the Psalms we find many “psalms of affliction” their typical pattern is to begin as a lament and wind up with a praise and prayer for the Lord’s rescue. Psalm 102 runs on this model:
“Hear my prayer, O LORD, And let my cry come to You. Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble; Incline Your ear to me; In the day that I call, answer me speedily. For my days are consumed like smoke, And my bones are burned like a hearth. My heart is stricken and withered like grass, So that I forget to eat my bread. Because of the sound of my groaning My bones cling to my skin. I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert. I lie awake, And am like a sparrow alone on the housetop. My enemies reproach me all day long; Those who deride me swear an oath against me. For I have eaten ashes like bread, And mingled my drink with weeping,
Because of Your indignation and Your wrath; For You have lifted me up and cast me away. My days are like a shadow that lengthens, And I wither away like grass…”
Jesus Christ, Teacher to the teachers, knew the Psalms. And he used the Psalms to speak into the deepest fears of the heart of his people, the Jews.
In many places he spoke to their fear of being abandoned-by others, and by the Lord Himself.
Christ masterfully took the words that every man and woman could pray in the dark night of the soul and used these same words, turning them inside out, to give reassurance. The actor in this case is not just the ominpresent and almighty Lord. No, Jesus makes it startlingly clear that the assurance comes from the culture of the heart, which resides in a parent. No parent hearing these words need fumble to understand the intimacy of these words, there is no obscurity or subtlety spoken in these lines:
“Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops.
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Matthew 10:28-30 (King James Version)

Serving Humanity Since Adam (figuring it all out... or not)

Irreducible Christianity:
I've been a Christian for decades and yet every week, at least once a week, I am struck by how one tends to reduce life, Christianity and God till they are mere shadowy outlines, if that, barely resembling (and sometimes not) what actually exists. Simply put, have you ever tried to describe yourself to someone? I think the younger you are, the easier it is. Once you pass a certain age, you likely have left off with the herd mentality and realize how difficult it is to describe your preferences and talents in a few sentences. Presumption is pretty much always a dangerous thing.
Struggle, knowledge, feelings and self-knowledge:
I know I don't know much about God but as a learner (which is what a disciple of Christ is), there is much trial and error involved. Trial-and-error means I will be wrong, come up empty-handed and actually fail. How do you feel when you fail? I feel frustrated, angry and sometimes disappointed.
But-and this is important-when God's truth and my pure human passion (for God) meet, it is at this juncture where "the trees of knowledge and of life grow together" - each containing "some blood and sap."
And when there is this co-mingling of God's gracious truth and my sincere desire, my entire appetite, that something happens. It seems that this is the place where the Spirit of Christ works in a person's life. God's truth is no longer inert; its catalyst is my appetite. No, that's not entirely accurate, for my appetite is unstimulated in a mere brush with God's Truth. Likewise mere doctrinal truth – which is in a sense information – can never transform a person.
Yet, in these learning moments as a Christian, something has happened. It has not happened purely by an act of my will nor as a result of my feeling something (emotion). In these learning moments God has in His way created and is creating life. Upon reflection, I am, in a sense, living history which is uninterpretable by myself.
Uninterpretable because I am the subject, and so I can communicate, but I cannot interpret properly since I have no basis for objectivity. At the same time, I cannot afford luxury of subjectivity (since subjectivity is being interpreting ones feelings back to oneself).

So, what do I know about transformation? Like I said, it takes Him, and my willingness to move forward meekly. God's stock-in-trade is people. I am happy that He's been in the People-Creation Business since Adam.
: )

Ask, Seek, and Knock...and you'll be answered

The prayers I make will then be sweet indeed
If Thou the Spirit give by which I pray:
My unassisted heart is barren clay,
That of its nature self can nothing feed;
Of good and pious works Thou art the seed,
That quickens only when Thou say’st it may;
Unless Thou show to us Thine own true way
No man can find it: Father! Thou must lead.

• Michelangelo