Sermon Central
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Living In His Presence During Difficult Times
Contributed by Mark Aarssen on Jun 19, 2018 (message contributor)
Summary: Life is crushingly hard and so often it presents burdens our hearts are unable to bear in our own strength. The key truth is that God is with us through it all. We are not alone even as we walk through the darkest valley.
Living in His Presence during Difficult Times
As our summer break began a young family suffered the sudden and unexpected death of their infant daughter. Such loss is unimaginable to comprehend. All of our hearts were broken by this news and we are at a loss to understand the why. All we know is that S.I.D.S. is suspected.
We continue to hold their family as well as the grandparents in our prayers as they go through this season of grief. Another family is also walking through a season of grief as their father was called home to Heaven.
Abiding by the request to give this young family time and space to grieve we find ourselves here to begin the fall season of worship. I know that many of you are also sharing this grief as I am.
With that in mind I wanted to find comfort to encourage us in such difficult times. I was led to Psalm 23:1-4 and there discovered the comfort and encouragement for such a time as this.
In those few verses are found a key truth to sustain us every day as we walk this vail of tears together.
Life is crushingly hard and so often it presents burdens our hearts are unable to bear in our own strength.
The key truth is that God is with us through it all. We are not alone even as we walk through the darkest valley.
He is our Shepherd.
Dr. Charles Stanley of In Touch Ministries presented this truth by reviewing our walk with the Lord right from the beginning of the Book of Genesis.
His was a 16 point message but mine is a reduced version following that same theme.
In the Garden of Eden we see our Heavenly Father walking with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. Our God intended to be physically present with us until sin separated that original relationship model.
But our sin did not cut off our God from us entirely. He continued to reach out to men and women but now it would be by His Spirit.
Still in Genesis we recall that Enoch walked with God.
Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
The Bible does not mention Enoch’s death and so we believe he was translated from Earth to Heaven as we believe we will be in the rapture to come.
Noah was told by God “I’ll be with you”.
This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.
Abraham was called by God to go with Him to a place God would show him.
The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
Moses was told by God that God would travel with them as they carried the Tabernacle of God.
When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”
Gideon the farmer was called to be God’s general.
When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”
Isaiah saw the throne room of God and heard God speak.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
All these people were unaware of the presence of God in their lives until they faced difficult times. But friends God was aware of all of them even though they were not aware of Him. Our God is omnipresent and omniscient. He knows you personally. It is His desire to walk with each one of us.
Sadly so many of us fail to realize that our God is ever present and all we need do is to live in His presence. Jesus, God the Son in the flesh told us that the very Spirit of God is within us. John 14:15-17
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
That Spirit of Truth is within each of you who know Jesus as your Savior. It is that Spirit that speaks to you from time to time bringing God’s word to your mind and heart at times when only God’s word lead and direct you.
You may not remember the chapter and verse but you know the word because it is in your heart.
