When life gets hard, and we don't understand why, it can be easy to become afraid and doubt God; it may even seem that he is not there. But just because it seems that he is not with us in those hard times, and we can't see what he is doing through it, Isaiah 41:10 says "Fear not for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." No matter how hard it gets, we know from God's promise in Isaiah 41:10 that he will uphold us and strengthen us through our hard times.
John 16:33- "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. but take heart; I have overcome the world." We don't need to understand why God is putting us through these hard times, we just need to know that he will help. He will strengthen and uphold us. We don't see the big picture, but God does and he is in control. It lends great comfort to know and believe that everything God does is for our good even when, through our limited vision, it may not look like it.
9 comments:
Thank you CJ, and Praise God for the message that He has sent to us through you in this article! Personally, I was very discouraged today due to a weakness with sin, after a whole week of prolonged godly meditation. But I hope to persevere, and believe that God will "deliver [me] from temptation".
"I have overcome the world." He has overcome the world! What else need I know to rejoice? He has overcome the sick world we live in. He overcame the very sin I was in weakness with today. Praise God! May god kill the weakness to sin in me and fill me with love for God instead of worldy lusts.
God bless you, CJ, for the encouragement that you are. :)
Amen. It's so easy to doubt when things don't go our way, to base our rejoicing on our circumstances rather than our God.
Thanks for the post, CJ. God bless you.
Hi CJ,
I found your blog through my friend Kaysie. I like your blog a lot -- especially the title :-) This post comes at a great time for me, as I have been going through a lot lately and have been feeling like asking "Where are you, God?" But he does uphold us with His hand -- thanks for the encouragement.
Phylicia
PS I was also homeschooled. Stop by my blog sometime!
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. but take heart; I have overcome the world."
I quote this verse often. Jesus tells us plainly, "I have said these things" so that we may have peace. His word is powerful to those who believe!
Amen! I love your blog posts. Simple, straight to the point, encouraging, and SO TRUE!
I like to remember this for hard times: When something happens that you don't understand, know that God is either doing it for your own good, doing it to cause action, or doing it to teach you something. When we're down, it helps to think, "what good can God bring out of this?"
-Charlie
Your right on cj, um . . I have heared about cases were the people had to have great trust in God But God brought them through it.
Your Brother in Christ
~Kaleb~
Yes! Although we may not see God in our "fleshly" eyes, he is there; He promised.
~Kade
Well put. In times when things get rough we really need to remember that God has it all planned. :)
RYC: The only book that I don't recommend is C.S. Lewis A Biography
By A.N. Wilson. That author is a total idiot and not very Christ pleasing :S
Eric
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