Suffering makes us forgetful people.
I know this.
I’ve been there in the middle of tragedy and hit a complete mental wall when it came to remembering what is true about God, about suffering, and about who I am IN JESUS.
It’s why, before hardship strikes, we need a solid theology of suffering.
It’s why, in the middle of difficulty, it is never so important to have something to hold onto that helps us remember the Word of God.
And, it is why, when we are struggling, we need to regularly preach the truths of Scripture to ourselves.
When we do, our thinking, feeling, interpreting, and even our behavior can fall in line with God’s great and powerful wisdom.
In fact, in a book that details his own sickness and suffering, Paul Tripp writes, “Bad theology worsens suffering. Bad theology will crush your hope when it most needs bolstering. It weakens faith, when it needs strengthening. Bad theology will leave our heart wondering and wandering when it needs to be rooted and at peace.”
As I type this, I’m thinking back to the difficult days following the death of my dear friend at the hand of thieves along the road a mile from our home in Kenya.
She and her husband were on their way to pick up their son, who was in our dorm at the time, and take him and his brother (in another dorm) home for the month of Easter break.
That incident began to plant seeds of fear inside me; and, if that weren’t enough, once the police released her body, my husband left to fly home to the US with the family.
On the day he left, our mission station emptied, as it always did between terms. Our co-workers took off for their own seasons of rest, or to serve at another mission compound.
On the day he left, the local police allowed the four men, who had been caught in connection with the murder (their police-dogs had tracked the men down that very next morning), to go free.
The planted seed bloomed and bred full grown-adult-fear. Giant fear.
And, the giant’s looming presence gave me a serious case of amnesia.
For at least two weeks, I struggled to remember God’s truth.
I’m sure the enemy of my soul thought he had won….
Until, I began to recognize his lies.
Until, I began to dig into the truth of Scriptures and find comfort for my weary, weak faith.
Of all the promises I began to write down and read over and over and over again, when I sensed fear knocking at the door of my heart, two made the greatest difference!
If you’re discouraged amidst difficulty, these two promises may be just what you need. They were balm to my forgetful and unfaithful belief system.
The first showed up in Matthew 28:20: “I am with you always.”
“Behold, you shall call His name, Immanuel: God with us (Matthew 1:23).”
What we need most when we’re in the HARD PLACES is someone who is near.
People can’t always be with us (as was my case – for almost a month, it was just the kids and me); but, the Lord goes where I go; is everywhere I am; in fact, He is near to all my suffering and never beyond my reach.
How do I know? He dwells in me…I am His temple.
He is the ever-near, ever-present God.
The second promise was similar to the first:
“I will never leave you or forsake you.”
Joshua 1:5 greets our every difficulty with these words, just as He did the children of Israel many times over.
The Lord never abandons us, no matter what it might “feel” like.
He may be standing in the background, but He is there.
Though the enemy may try his darnedest to whisper doubts in our ears, “Where is your God, now?”
His lies are more about him (the Father of all lies) than they are about our ever trustworthy, faithful God.
As Paul Tripp adds to his testimony, “How horrible (of Satan) to rob suffering people of their only place to look for hope!”
For the Lord is our “here-forever-after” God.
And, in His Presence is fulness of joy…..even when in the midst of difficulty!
What wonderful truths to cling to during difficulty and trials: He is with us always and never leaves us.
Preach it often!
