I was afraid of the dark when I was little. My Dad, who knew me well, was aware of my fear. One night when he was saying good night to me I heard a banging on our house that made me shudder. My dad took my hand and said, “come with me.” I followed him down the stairs and out the back door of our house. He pointed up to a tree whose rustling branches were hitting the top of our house. He wanted me to see what made the noise so I wouldn’t be afraid. He took me back up to my bedroom and tucked me in. The noise no longer bothered me because my Dad, who knew I was afraid, had helped me.
When I was about 8 I climbed a tree in our front yard. As I climbed I broke off one of the branches I had used to climb up. I couldn’t climb up and I couldn’t climb down. There I was hanging in mid-air. My Dad heard my cry and came running to where I was. He patiently helped me down from my precarious perch.
My Dad was able to help me because he knew me. He knew I needed His help. He knew I wasn’t always strong enough to get down from trees I had climbed. He knew I was afraid of the dark and of noises that were unfamiliar, but he not only knew me he loved me. He loved me enough to help me.
There is someone who loves me even more than my Dad did. God knows me inside out. God made me and loves me more than anyone else can. He knows I need His help. He hears me when I cry.
As I think about trouble around the world and in my everyday life I often become alarmed…then I remember that God is there to help me with the perceived threats (rustling branches) and the real threats (broken branches). He knows that we are weak and fearful people. He knows we need His help. No matter the circumstances, real or imagined, God has promised to be with us. He doesn’t promise to fix the problem, but promises to be with us. For it is by trusting Him through the darkest times that we learn to lean heavily on Him. If there was never trouble, we wouldn’t know our need of Him.
So the next time you are afraid or feel alone, remember God hears your cry. God loves you. God knows you better than anyone else. God has promised to be with you.
For further study:
“The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry.” Psalm 34:15
“but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.” I Corinthians 8:3
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine!”…
“Since you are precious in My sight. Since you are honored and I love you…
Photo by Ernesto Alejandro Pu00e9rez on Pexels.com
This year has been incredibly hard for many families, mine included. My trouble pales when I see the trouble that the whole world is in. I struggle to find words of comfort for so many situations.
No words come. When there is no answer to trouble the only thing we can do is turn to the God who made us. Cling to Him with all we have and look forward to a better time, a better place.
I ran across a song recently that was sung in English and Arabic. The phrase that was repeated again and again was “in the shadow of your wings.” I found that phrase in the following Bible verses. Psalm 17:8; Psalm 36:7; Psalm 57:1; Psalm 63:7 – Take some time and look them up.
Here are the words to the song with a recording below. I pray it brings you comfort no matter what trouble you are facing.
In the Shadow of Your Wings – Cathy Spurr/ Debbie McNeil
I will dwell in the shadow of your wings.
I will know of the peace your love can bring.
Night will fall but I will not be afraid
When I dwell in the shadow of your wings.
In the shadow, in the shadow, in the shadow of your wings. (x2)
There is a harsh deadness to winter. Will there ever be life again?
Yet year after year we look for signs of Spring. We know from experience that it will come. God has promised and it has always come. So I pray and wait. Trusting a good God will bring Spring and new life out of this deadness. Struggling to thank Him in the winter, knowing it leads to Spring that will be more marvelous because of the winter that came before.
So too trouble comes with its cold, harsh, barrenness.
Sudden storms that are unpredictable.
Storms I have no control of.
Storms I want no part of.
Yet here they are swirling, howling about my life. They refuse to give an answer to my “why?”
So I pray and wait. Trusting God is with me especially in the trouble. Holding me close, teaching me to rely on Him. I haltingly thank Him for His care. Knowing someday there will be a “Spring” that will be even more beautiful because of the trouble that came before.
I have been blessed over the last weeks to have many people praying for me. I am grateful for those prayers and for those who helped in many other ways.
I also think back to the nights in the hospital and even the times I woke up in the middle of the night once I was home. Those were times of being reminded by God of his tender care of me. The verses he would bring to my mind or the fragment of a hymn.
“Jesus the name that charms our fears, that bids our sorrow cease. ‘Tis music in the sinners ears. ‘Tis life and health and peace.”
Our world is in trouble right now. It is more than a physical sickness. It is a spiritual darkness that envelops many. We think especially of our brothers and sisters in Ukraine, but there are many people hurting in many locations like Afghanistan and China. It seems hopeless, but we have a God who sees and hears. He still comforts those in trouble. He is at work even in the darkness. Our hope lies not in governments or leaders, but in the God who patiently waits for men to turn to Him. My prayer is that the current trouble causes such a turning.
My granddaughter, Arianna and I recorded this a couple of years ago. It was written by Emma and Stuart Townend. “I Am Here for You”.
For further study:
Deuteronomy 3:22 – “Do not fear them, for the LORD your God is the one fighting for you.”
Isaiah 31:1 – “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, And rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many, And in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the LORD!”
Isaiah 41:10, 13b – “Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” “…Do not fear, I will help you.”
Jeremiah 31:3 – “…I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”
Matthew 28:20b – “lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
John 16:33b – “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”
I John 4:10 – “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
Even though Joseph was from a dysfunctional family he lived a life of integrity. Several times in scripture it mentions “the Lord was with him”. His life was anything but smooth sailing, but the Lord was with him.
The Lord was with him when he was thrown into a pit by his brothers.
The Lord was with him when his brothers sold him into slavery.
The Lord was with Him when He worked in Potiphar’s house.
The Lord was with him when he was falsely accused, by Potiphar’s wife.
The Lord was with him when he was in jail.
The Lord was with him when he interpreted dreams while in jail.
The Lord was with him when he was forgotten by men.
The Lord was with him when he worked for Pharaoh.
He did nothing to deserve trouble. Yet, God was kind to Joseph by being unkind.
God was kind to Joseph’s family by saving them from the famine, through Joseph.
God was kind to the Egyptians by saving them from starvation, through Joseph.
God was kind to Joseph by allowing him to be part of God’s plan to bring deliverance.
There is no mention of Joseph doubting God’s goodness. There is no hint of bitterness. After the death of his father Joseph reassures his brothers by telling them. “…you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” (Genesis 50:20)
Sometimes trouble comes to my life or your life. I don’t know why most things happen, but…
I do know God is kind.
I do know that God is sovereign.
I do know that sometimes God is up to something I don’t understand.
“And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins. Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying; BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD, AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL, which translated means, God with us.” Matthew 1:21-23
We don’t think of that verse as offensive, but more than likely it would have offended the religious leaders of the day. They were being oppressed by Rome. Their country was overrun by foreigners. They were being abused and mistreated at every turn. They wanted a Savior who could save them from the trouble around them. Shockingly Matthew points to the real problem. It wasn’t their circumstances it was their own hearts.
“…He will save His people from their sins.”
How dare he talk to persecuted people like that. How dare he not enter into their pain and ask them how they feel. How dare he accuse them of being sinners.
And so it is. The gospel is offensive. We think our life would be better if we just had different circumstances. If I just had a different wife, husband or different children. Maybe a different church or friends or job. Maybe if my past hurts weren’t so great. The list is endless.
Trouble is everywhere. You can find atrocities sprinkled throughout history. Your circumstances, however horrifying, are nothing new. The sooner we see the problem is within us instead of without us the sooner we are ready to hear the wonderful story of the gospel.
God became man. (Amazing)
God is with us (Incredible)
His purpose? …to save us from our sins. (Freedom at last)
“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! II Corinthians 9:15
Sometimes I just don’t feel like singing. But first, let me explain…
I grew up in a family that sang often. We sang in church. We sang in the car. We sang outside. We sang around the piano. We sang at school. We all had just ordinary voices, but we sang anyway.
Then I grew up.
Life was hard.
It became harder to sing.
When my Dad got sick with a brain tumor we watched him put his violin aside, and soon his voice was gone too.
It didn’t seem right to sing without him.
After he died it took me a year before I could sing without crying.
Many years later, as my Mother lay dying, the only thing that would make her stop whimpering was if we sang to her. So I found a hymn book and sang softly until my own tears prevented me from continuing. When she would start whimpering again I would sing until she calmed down… until tears choked my voice.
Again and again the cycle repeated itself. Those were hard days, but my sisters and I were glad we could be with her.
There have been other hard days, when singing seemed impossible. Yet, singing should not be dependent on how we feel, but because we owe our God praise.
Below is a song I find myself singing when I don’t feel like singing.
Notice the words in the first verse...”He justly claims a song from me…”
We sing, not because our life is free from trouble. We sing, because we have a Great Redeemer who has rescued our souls from hell.
There will be trouble here. But this isn’t all there is. We have eternity to look forward to. This trouble will seem little when we are face to face with our Savior. In the meantime we remember His care of us in the here and now. We remember that He asks us to sing, to remember, to cling to this God who day by day covers us with His lovingkindness.
David wrote the following words when he had to flee to the wilderness of Judah, when his son, Absalom, took over the throne. (See II Samuel 15:23-30; 17:16)
“Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise Thee.
So I will bless Thee as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Thy name…
For Thou hast been my help, And in the shadow of Thy wings I sing for joy.” Psalm 63:3,4 & 9
David wept when he was in trouble, but he also didn’t stop singing. Neither should we.
Samuel Medley 1738-1799
Awake, my soul in joyful lays, And sing thy great Redeemer’s praise; He justly claims a song from me, His lovingkindness, oh, how free! Lovingkindness, lovingkindness, His lovingkindness, oh, how free!
He saw me ruined by the fall, Yet loved me not-with-standing all; He saved me from my lost estate, His lovingkindness, oh, how great! Lovingkindness, lovingkindness, His lovingkindness, oh, how great!
Tho’ numerous hosts of mighty foes, Tho’ earth and hell my way oppose, He safely leads my soul along, His lovingkindness, oh, how strong! Lovingkindness, lovingkindness, His lovingkindness, oh, how strong!
When trouble, like a gloomy cloud, Has gathered thick and thundered loud, He near my soul has always stood, His lovingkindness, oh, how good! Lovingkindness, lovingkindness, His lovingkindness, oh, how good!
Soon shall we mount and soar away to the bright realms of endless day, And sing, with rapture and surprise, His lovingkindness, in the skies. Lovingkindness, lovingkindness, His lovingkindness, in the skies.
Windows of His Grace 