Have you ever received a disappointing report that was too much to take in? It is not easy going into the prayer closet, confessing scripture when life is a mess. Either way, giving up is not an option.
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, God is with you, beside you, above you, and inside you. God’s presence and watchful care never leave you. If you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, God is right in front of you, inviting you, drawing you, offering you the love, mercy, and grace that He longs to give you.
God wants us to choose to love him freely, even when that choice involves pain, because we are committed to him, not to our own good feelings and rewards. Let it hurt, but I’m not stepping out of prayer closet!
God wants us to cleave to him, as Job did, even when we have every reason to deny him hotly. That, I believe, is the central message of Job.
Have you seriously left me to drown in hurt, have you forsaken me? We desire to know the answer to these questions most when faced with painful trials and attacks of doubt. The devil loves it when we get confused about this.
Even Jesus, during His crucifixion, asked, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
To the onlookers of that time, as well as to those who first read the story, it seems that God did forsake Jesus, so we obviously conclude that He will forsake us as well in our darkest moments.
Yet, upon continued observation of the events that unfolded after the crucifixion, the truth is revealed that nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even death.
After Jesus was crucified, He was glorified. From this example alone we can be assured that even when we do not feel God’s presence in the midst of our pain, we can still believe His promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
When it hurts, the message to take with you in hard times is that when you cannot see His hand, trust His heart, and know for certain that He has not forsaken you.
When you seem to have no strength of your own, that is when you can most fully rest in His presence and know that His strength is made perfect in your weakness.
marvin@ugchristiannews.com
