There are many difficulties and trials will come your way, they will continue to come until the day you die. Life will never go smoothly without anything going wrong.
Difficulties and trials will come but God will be with you in all of them and help you understand all of them and deliver you from all of them.
We enjoy God’s presence in our lives by faith. It is our faith in God that helps us to cope with all our difficulties and trials and troubles. Bless His Holy Name. Even though we don’t understand why we are going through the troubles that we are we can face them because God is with us. Here is what it says in the Book of Hebrews:
“But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.
All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.” – Hebrews 11
Sometimes it is sad
Sometimes our difficulties are very great. We may have children who are very sick or who have died from cancer or some other terrible disease. We may have some problem that is still not fixed. We may have prayers that we are praying for others who are sick but they are not yet seen to be healed here on earth. We may have people who do not treat us well and who we have to see and talk to everyday.
There are many trials and difficulties that we face as human beings; and there are many trials and difficulties we face as Christians. How do we handle the unanswered prayers from the Lord? How do we face another day when yesterday’s prayers weren’t answered?
Sometimes I just don’t know what to do.
Sitting in the dirt
Sometimes you just have to sit there in the dirt and cry – there is nothing else to do. We feel like God has abandoned us and that He doesn’t care about us. We don’t hear His voice and we don’t see His face; we don’t see His light and we feel sad because our prayers seem to be unanswered. And sometimes they continue to go unanswered. God doesn’t give us what we asked for and yet we have to continue believing in Him as our Lord and our God.
Maybe you are a convert to Christ; maybe you had a different religion or a different belief and now you believe in Jesus Christ as you Lord and Saviour. And your whole family is against you, you are persecuted and hated by your own family; your husband or wife may have left you; people hate you and say all kinds of bad things about you; you feel very alone.
You believed in Christ because you thought you would receive joy and peace, and God would help you get immigration because you believed in Jesus. You thought your whole family would come to believe in Jesus and everyone would accept you and love you even though you believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
But none of that happened. Your spouse became even more religion; your mother did not accept you because of your faith in Jesus; your community rejected you and you feel very alone, afraid; you feel like God has abandoned you and you are very sad and depressed.
Be still and know that I am God
“Be still, and know that I am God!” – Psalm 46:10
In times like these God is still with us. Just because the clouds come, and the rain comes, doesn’t mean that the sun has disappeared. The sun is still there behind the clouds lighting up the whole universe; it’s just that we don’t see the sun at the moment.
God still loves us in those moments when we remember the unanswered prayers. God still loves us when we receive the news that we have a terrible sickness. God still loves us even though it seems like everyone around us has disappeared. At least we still have God – at least God has not left us alone.
“The righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to the rescue each time.” – Psalm 34:19
Just because God hasn’t answered our prayers yet – doesn’t mean that He won’t. In fact He will. God will answer our prayers because He told us so in the Bible.
“Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.”
“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”
God will never leave you
God will never leave. Your health may leave you; your spouse may leave you; your money may leave you; your house may leave you; but God will never leave you.
God says to us:
“So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
God will come through and strengthen you and help you.
Time and time again God has come into my life in the darkest moments of my life and saved me from complete depression, suicide, fear, anxiety, loneliness, financial trouble, sicknesses, discouragement, and sadness. In every problem, and in every difficulty, God has been there to help me. He has never left me or forsaken me.
Review of some times when God helped me
When my mother was very sick and had a stroke I prayed according to Isaiah 38:2
“When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD” and my mother lived another 15 years just like Hezekiah did.
When my wife was sick and dying the Lord came to her in a vision and healed her. I prayed like Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:10 “Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the LORD. “ And the Lord healed my wife by coming to her in a vision, and putting healing heat in her body, and talking to her.
When I had no money to pay the bills God came to me miraculously and provided the money I needed to pay my bills; it came true what is written in Genesis 22:14 “The LORD will provide.”
When I didn’t know what to I would open my Bible and read and God would tell me what to do:
“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” – Psalm 119:105.
When a storm came and was going to damage my house and fell on my knees to pray and God spared my house from damage:
“But in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry to him reached his ears.” – Psalm 18:6
God has always been with me. God has always helped me. God always hears me and helps me no matter what kind of trouble of difficulty I am in. It is true what it says about God in the Bible:
“God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.” – Psalm 46:1.
When my family didn’t have anything to eat I prayed
“He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine.” – Psalm 33:19.
And God provided the food we needed.
He provided clean water when we could find any:
“Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.” – 1 Kings 17:4
God promised that “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household” Acts 16:31. And 30 years after I became a Christian I saw my 86 year old father pray and accept Jesus Christ into his heart as Lord and Saviour.
There is hope
So whatever your situation, whatever your trouble, whatever you bad circumstance is – God is with you and God will help you. Whatever your concern, whatever your care – God will help you.
Maybe God has allowed all these troubles in my life as the Pastor of Somali Christian Ministries so that you would see and be encouraged that even though we struggle with sickness, disability, lack of food and money, unsaved family members, spouses who are going to die, children you are going to die, family that hates you because you are a Christian, and all the sadness of Somalis who say they want to follow the Lord but are afraid – maybe God has allowed all these things in my life to show that there isn’t anything that can happen to us that can destroy our faith and cause us to turn away from the Lord. We can always continue to trust in the Lord no matter what.
I have not been as righteous as Job. Job was a man who was very righteous and God delivered him out of all his troubles. I have not been as righteous as Job but God has still delivered me out of all my troubles.
That is because God hears us if we call upon His name. God doesn’t look to see how righteous we are, or how clean we are, or how perfect we are in our behaviour. God looks at the crying broken heart. God sees the crushed spirit and the sadness and fear that we have. God sees that brokenness we have and when we cry out to Him to help us and deliver then He hears us from heaven and turns His ear to us and reaches down His hand from heaven and helps us.
It says in the Bible:
“Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
he is my God, and I trust him.
For he will rescue you from every trap
and protect you from deadly disease.
He will cover you with his feathers.
He will shelter you with his wings.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
nor the arrow that flies in the day.
Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
Though a thousand fall at your side,
though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.
Just open your eyes,
and see how the wicked are punished.If you make the Lord your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
no evil will conquer you;
no plague will come near your home.
For he will order his angels
to protect you wherever you go.
They will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
You will trample upon lions and cobras;
you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.
When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.
I will reward them with a long life
and give them my salvation.”