Our Refuge & Strength
Life is filled with emotions, pain, loss, disappointment and frustration. If we were to measure God's love based on some of our experiences, we may feel alone and rejected. Those seasons of pain can cloud our perception of the goodness of God. As it steals our attention, it can even block our view of Him altogether. You may feel like you're alone right now and the pain of your heartache is unbearable. He never meant for you to carry it alone. You have a Father whose love for you is greater than any love you've ever experienced. He knows the depths of both your physical and emotional pain because He carried it on the cross. With every lash of the whip as His flesh was torn and the piercing of His body as it was hung on the cross... He took it willingly for you...
Though you may feel like you've been served an injustice, we live in a fallen world, where bad things do happen to good people, but for those who know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they never have to experience it alone. They can trust that God is still working behind the scenes and He has our best interest in mind. The way He answers prayers doesn't always look the way we think it should. We don't see the big picture. Every action He makes is with eternity in mind... we are limited to the temporal because that's what affects us right now.
Our God can be trusted.. no matter how things look or feel... HE CAN BE TRUSTED. He loves you enough to have given you His only begotten Son. He desires to heal your wounds and comfort you as you cry out to Him with abandon. Share your heart with Him, He can take it! He provided His Holy Spirit to be a very present help in your time of trouble. He knew we would experience those seasons, so He gave us His presence through His Spirit to be right here with us... wrapping His arms around us and wiping every tear. Allow His Spirit to give you the comfort He's desiring to share. Force your attention on Him, even when it feels impossible, and the storm is still raging all around... you can find peace in His strong arms.
Psalm 46:1 (NKJV) God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Roman's 8:35-39 (NLT) Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
1 Peter 5:6-7 (ESV) Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.
Romans 8:28 (KJV) And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV) “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
