His Strength and Love
author: Hope Breedlove of Joy In The Mourning Ministries
The sermon series we have been going through recently at my church is through the book of Acts. We are currently in Acts 16 and the pastor has been talking about when Paul and Silas got put into prison. Once they were in prison, they were not complaining to God about their circumstances; they were praising God through the hard times. The pastor mentioned how this would be a hard thing to do in the midst of such a hard time and related it to many types of difficult trials we endure. He said that often times we try to negotiate with God to get us out of a hard situation. I know I have done that before. I can not exactly remember the negotiation, but it was along the lines of, “If You do this, or heal this person, I will do this for You.” It is funny that we think God works that way. In our human brains, it is hard to see God’s way is better than ours, especially when it hurts so badly.
It was also mentioned that God did not mean for this life to be easy. As a Christian, we will go through many trials, but there is always something to learn from them. Grief is one of the toughest things to go through. We often times wish things could be different and we do not understand why we have to go through the things we do when it comes to losing someone or something we love and cherish. God sees us through until the end; He does not abandoned us, even though it feels like we are left raw and feeling like there is no hope when grief hits. We get to cling to the promise that the story does not end there.
Psalm 59:16-17 says, “But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. You are my strength, I sing praise to you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely.”
I love this Psalm because it points out that David, the one who wrote Psalms, was in distress, but reminded himself that God was the only one he could rely on in times when it was hard. The grief we face is hard as well, but in the end, God knows what is best for us. We may not see it the ways we can imagine, but we can find joy in knowing He is control and knows what is best. So, in the week to come, let us face each day as it comes with the confidence in knowing Who is in control. Let us sing of His strength and love as we let Him be our joy!
