12/29/2019
As you look behind you can you see that God has had His hand upon you, and has been helping you? Have you praised Him for His help, and perhaps even honored Him by raising a monument of some type to Him... a stone of help, or Ebenezer as it is called? Perhaps it was a sapling, if you are wealthy it was an inscription on a building, or if you are poor a pile of rocks. Whatever it is do you think His helping you has ended? No, His help continues, despite what has happened in our lives His help never ceases.
“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, "Till now the Lord has helped us."”
1 Samuel 7:12 ESV
Life is full of happiness, and Joy, but there is also plenty of hardship and tragedy too. Whatever the circumstances we find ourselves in God is there with us. In the plentiful, happy, and prosperous times praising Him comes easy, but in those times of sorrow and loss it becomes hard, and quite often we blame Him for our pain. We sing a song about praising Him in the storm, but is our faith up to that challenge? Is our belief strong enough to offer praise to God in those terrible moments that challenge us, or call out to Jesus from the depths of our despair? Listen Again to this song by Casting Crowns...
https://youtu.be/DoqbKyeKOBI
Sometimes God saves us Himself from the turbid waters of the flood, but at other times it is His will that we swim through them. Sometimes He heals, but sometimes He takes our hand and walks with us through the sickness, hardship, and death we face... in this way He gives us His strength, and teaches us what it means to lean on Him.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV
So as we face our challenges with faith, can we also face the silence of God with the same resolve as we call out for His salvation, and His voice seems mute to us?
“Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, has been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins. Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord? Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?”
Isaiah 64:11-12 ESV
Listen to Andrew Peterson as he sings of such moments...
https://youtu.be/cvytewIxll0
Songs... they touch us in places that words alone can not, and they massage, comfort, and strengthen our souls... just as David realized, and the Psalms demonstrate.
God’s will is often a mystery, and although we want it to be simple, and lift us above every bit of suffering and pain we encounter... it does not. When we are left to walk through the pain, or find ourselves in the valley of the shadow of death, He has not abandoned us. His rod and staff don’t always rescue us, but they do comfort us.
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Psalms 23:4 ESV
So in the midst of the storm, as we are comforted in the valley of death, or when the winds of God grow still and silent, we should praise Him always because our hope and strength come from Him, and He is with us even yet. There is a certain scripture that is often misunderstood to mean that in God everything is good, but it does not mean that... God takes even the bad things we face and works them together to become good in the end.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
Romans 8:28-29 ESV
So if you are suffering, mourning, even dying, remember to lean on Him, know that all will be good in the end, and that He has not abandoned you... then praise Him.
Prayer:
Father, we thank you for your deliverance, provision, salvation, and for your Son Jesus who redeems us, but as we are worn down, we call out to you asking that you help us in our disbelief. Give us strength in our faith as we face the hardships of life in the world, and raise us up so that we can praise you in their midst. Lead us through the suffering we face, and be pleased with us as we raise our Ebenezer. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who is with us always, and walks with us through every trial... drying all our tears. Praised be your name for the joys in our lives, and equally for the lessons of faith we receive from every trial and tribulation. Great are you whose right hand holds us firm, and whose strength of love abides in us always. All glory is yours Heavenly Father, especially in your grace that shines upon us, but also in the mysteries of your will as we obey you in it without understanding. Hear our prayers, and praise always, and forevermore.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV
Rich Forbes