"Trusting God In Tragedy"

Over the years we have had many gut wrenching stores of families killed in an accident only to leave a mother or father behind. To wake up in a hospital bed hurting physically then realize that your entire family is gone would be unfathomable. Now none of us are immune to have this happening to us. So how can we live a life of joy instead of being paralyzed with fear?

We saw in the book of Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God…………..

In the beginning of everything that happens to us, “God”. Satan is bound by God and before he can tempt us in any way he needs to get permission from God first. Satan’s motives are to seek and destroy. God’s motives are to allow things to happen that will increase our faith. Faith is not increased by spending years on the beach drinking Corona’s with a lime. Faith is built when you have no money left in your checking account, when you are by your child's bedside in a hospital, when you have been given a pink slip or threatened by one. Faith is built when we have no where else to go but Jesus. So for our own good God allows us to be put in those positions so we can understand His love for us.

Also in Genesis the rest of creation on each day starts out with three words in Genesis 1:3, 6, 9,11,14,20, 24 and 26 that says

“And God Said”

Did you know that it is impossible for God to lie? In Genesis 3:1 “And God said “Let there be light,” and there was light……..” In 4 words light came into existence. God speaks and you can take that to the bank. God speaks and He breathes out stars, holds back the oceans, puts the stars in place and creates a vast universe with a command. Are you in awe of God or in awe of worldly heroes? Are you in awe of God or are you in awe of what you think YOU can do? The more we rely upon self the less we rely upon God. We can’t have it both ways. You have to choose.

Let me give you a worse case scenario. Say you are heading out on your family vacation and a truck pulls out in front of you. You wake up in the hospital but your family is not around you. They are all gone. The only way to get past this hurt which will take years is to know that

“This world is not our home”.

So why do we do things that try to make this residence permanent? We build big things thinking we will never leave. We try to make ourselves comfortable in a fallen world, (That is impossible) But what if your heart was constantly on heaven? What if you could realize that your family made it to heaven before you? As the Lord says a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. If it is 20 or 60 years till you see your family when you see your family again in heaven I have a feeling it will only feel like a day that they have been gone.

A lot of us in this life lived paralyzed by our fear. When we get married we loved our spouse and we have become one flesh. But then we discount God’s command when we have children and put children first before our spouse. That is not biblical. Marriages get ruined when the children become more important than the marriage relationship. The children God allows us to have are His. He just allows us to have them FOR A TIME then they are off.

Hebrews 13:5,6 “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

When God say “Man” He also means the world. Nothing in this world can harm your soul if you are saved. God cannot lie and when He says “Never will I leave you” do you trust Him? We need to focus our eyes on the Lord and heaven. Then when things come that we did not expect we can have the faith we need to put it in the proper perspective. Since this is not our real home and your job you only have for a few years what are you going to do now? Yesterday we talked about joy and this passage is about our joy also. When we store things up in a world where they will be gone in an instant we will always be worried. Please pray today that God would show you how to live this life with the best of your ability but also to live this life knowing you real home, your mansion is yet to come. That is pure hope and joy.

Have a great day and don’t let ANYONE steal your peace.

Brad