They say God will never give you more than you can handle, but honestly sometimes you just sit and wonder if that is true. Trouble seems to come with a capital T, storms rage around you and you feel the pain of several knives in your back. It might be with health issues, major financial problems or even marital difficulties. As you sit unable to move forward, backward or even turn to the left or right, you wonder “Why, Lord? Why can’t we seem to catch a break? Everything that can go wrong does go wrong. Where are You? Lord?”
Recently, a friend made the comment that with all the trials she was enduring that it made her realize even more her need for the Lord. Another friend, in the midst of a horrible problem within her family, is ready to turn her back on all her knows. And the list could go on and go. Even when you talk to friends and family, you realize the desperate situations many are enduring. Children are running from the Lord and making horrible choices. Others are watching a loved one being slowly destroyed by drugs or booze. There are those who struggle with chronic health issues and don’t know what tomorrow will bring.
In the midst of many events in Scripture, we see God’s people with their backs against the wall. Think about the children of Israel as they fled the Egyptian army approaching from the rear. Then there’s David, as he ran with his own king threatening to end his life. Maybe it’s Hannah enduring years of emotional abuse at the hand of her husband’s second wife and her children. Mary Magdalene suffered with demonic possession. John the Beloved exiled on the Isle of Patmos. Jeremiah, Isaiah and many of the other prophets who lived with ridicule and hatred of the very people they were called to minister to.
I thought about all the struggles four young Hebrew boys endured so long ago. Their land was invaded and they watched loved ones die, their land and homes destroy. Then because of their looks and intelligence they are chosen to serve King Nebuchadnezzar. Heartbroken, they were forced to march to a land far away leaving all they had ever known behind. Think of all their backward glances hoping to see just one more glimpse of the land they loved.
For a season things seemed to improve. They found favor with the men overseeing them and the Lord gave them much wisdom and insight. Then suddenly hardship comes upon them one more time. Their refusal to bow before the image of Nebuchadnezzar brings a swift sentence of death. Not just any death but death in a fiery furnace, and just for them – the king orders it extra hot. The heat was so intense that it kills the men carrying the three bound Jewish boy. Okay, it can’t get much worse than that.
But I read a phrase this morning that stirred up hope afresh – “But there is a God in heaven!” Daniel had heard from the God of heaven and received the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s forgotten dream. But the God in heaven saved the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace. But the God in heaven parted the Red Sea before the vast host of Israel. But there is a God in heaven that opened the womb of the barren Sarah, Hannah and Elizabeth.
But there is a God in heaven that keeps His promises even in the midst of your heartache and hardships. He promises to be with you when it feels like you are going to sink in the waters of despair. He promises to be with you when the raging rivers are threatening to overcome you. And like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, when the fires of hell are erupting all around you, He will walk with you in the midst of it and when you come out on the other side you will not even smell like smoke. Yes, we are all facing hardships in one form or another but we can focus on that one phrase. “There is a God in heaven who loves me and promises to always be with me. Yes, there is a God in heaven and He knows all about me.”
Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.
Nuggets of Joy 