When I was growing up in the mountains of North Carolina, every Sunday afternoon, weather permitting, my parents, my siblings, and I would go hiking. Inevitably, our climbs would take us to the ridge where the trees were so enormous we could all hold hands and still not be able to encircle the trunks. When I asked my mother why the trees were so much larger on the ridge than anywhere else, she replied that it was because the winds were the strongest and the storms were the fiercest on the ridge. With nothing to shelter the trees from the full brunt of nature’s wrath, they either broke and fell, or they became incredibly strong and resilient.
God plants you and me in our faith as tender saplings then grows us up into “trees of righteousness,” using the elements of adversity to make us strong. And He leads us to endure, not just somehow, but triumphantly as we choose to praise Him, regardless of the storms swirling within us or the winds howling outside of us.
Astronomers estimate there are more than 100 billion galaxies. And each galaxy has more than 100 billion stars! And each of those hundreds of billions of stars was personally hung in space by the Creator Who has not only numbered them all but knows each of them by name! The very first words of Genesis tell us, “In the beginning, God created the heavens. . . .” I can’t conceive of any activity much bigger than that!
What big things are you facing? A big decision about a career change or a child’s schooling or a marriage proposal? A big commitment like buying a new house or beginning a new job or becoming a new parent? A big responsibility such as caring for elderly parents or supervising an office staff or being the sole provider for your family?
God is active in big ways!
The apostle Paul went through a period of intense suffering that he described as being impaled with a spike! He testified that three times he pleaded with God to remove the suffering, but his prayer was unanswered. When he must have cried out through clenched teeth, “Why?” God reassured him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul’s response indicates he caught sight of the big picture when he responded, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:9-10, NIV).
What kinds of trials have caused you to suffer? Could it be God has given you a platform of suffering from which you can be a witness of His power and grace to those who are watching?
God is not one of several gods. He is absolutely supreme over everything! God is greater than creation. This means there is nothing in my life-
no circumstance or crisis,
no habit or heartache,
no sickness or grief,
nothing visible or invisible-
nothing that is greater than God!
What are you facing that is greater than you are?
A habit?
A person?
A problem?
Praise God for His deity! He is the Creator Who is in authority over everything, fully able to control that which not only seems but is beyond our abilities to handle.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46, NIV) The words came from the cracked lips and the crushed heart of God’s Son as His tortured body and fevered mind were pushed to the outer limits of endurance. For the first time in eternity, the Father and Son were actually separated. They were separated by all of your sins and my sins, which came between Them.
Even when Jesus had been alone in a crowd, or alone on a mountainside, or alone on the lake He had never truly been alone! His Father had always been with Him. He and His Father were so close they were One. To be separated was a spiritual death that was worse than a living nightmare. It was hell!
No one on this side of hell will ever know the loneliness Jesus endured on the Cross-in your place and mine. When we claim the Lamb as our own sacrifice for sin, we will never be separated from God, because Jesus was.
