No Matter What You Are Facing, God Is There

This past Sunday my pastor started a sermon series on the names of Jesus.  This week he talked about Jehovah Shammah, “the Lord is there” based on Ezekiel 48:35.  It was a good reminder of how God is there through every circumstance of life.

He went on to name accounts in the Bible where God was there, Noah and the ark; David and Goliath; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; Daniel in the lions’ den and the apostles.  The list went on. 

Sometimes we find it difficult to personalize things from the Bible.  We tend to think that they were somehow these spiritual giants and our lives, our situations cannot compare to theirs.  We forget that just as God was with those in the Bible, so He is with us today. 

As my pastor began to go through different persons from the Bible I began to recall moments in my own life when God was there.  I had these flashbacks to times that were difficult. 

I thought about when my only daughter was just an infant and she was hospitalized for a few days due to an illness they had no answers for.  I saw myself sitting in the rocking chair holding her and I had this overwhelming realization of how God was there. 

I remembered the years we struggled with my oldest son who had been diagnosed with Tourette syndrome and rage attacks that he used to experience.  I recalled one time lying on the bedroom floor with him as we both cried our eyes out.  God was there. 

Then I remember three years ago when my youngest son had to undergo surgery to repair a collarbone that never developed properly.  He had to have a bone taken from his hip and fused to his collarbone.  We later learned that they had difficulty with him coming out of his anesthesia because his asthma had acted up, causing breathing difficulties.  The first time we saw him after surgery he was very gray looking.

Suddenly I saw God there in the surgical room with him as they removed the tube and his breathing became troubled.  I wasn’t there.  I was sitting in a waiting room but God was showing me that He was there.

You see, these are my fiery furnace stories, my lion’s den events, my Goliath moments in life.  I don’t have to compare myself to those in the Bible.  Like them, I am one of His children but my experiences have been different. 

God is there.  Let that really sink in.  It doesn’t matter what you face, what difficulty seems to stand in your way.  You are never alone.  God is there.