There is a Scripture that says:
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” – Lamentations 3:24
And another one in the Bible says:
“My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.” – Psalm 73:26
Our lives here on earth are only temporary. It doesn’t matter how old we get, or how much money we get; it doesn’t matter if we are the president of a company or even the ruler of this world – our lives are only temporary and one day we will die.
The Bible says:
“And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment,” – Hebrews 9:27
Everything on this earth will pass away and will be gone. The Bible says:
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” – 2 Peter 3:10
Everything that brought us joy and peace in the world will be gone: Food, money, clothes, houses, cars, tea – everything, everything, everything.
It is all going to be completely meaningless and useless, like King Solomon says in the Book of Ecclesiastes:
“These are the words of the Teacher, King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem.
“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”
What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.
History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.” – Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
So what can give us peace and joy
The Bible says that the Lord is our joy. That doesn’t mean that we won’t feel sadness and pain – we will. And some people will feel a lot of it. But there is hope my friend; there is peace my brothers and sisters; no matter how dark the tunnel gets, no matter how deep and dark the cave may be; no matter how hot the desert sun may shine down upon – the Lord is always there and will always help you.
No matter how dry and earth becomes and how thirsty you get – God is there; He is enough to carry you through the trial and the difficulty. He may not take away the trial and the difficulty but He will be with you in it.
The Bible says: “The LORD is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.”
I know that it doesn’t sound good to say “God is my joy” when you have a very big problem hanging over your head; but the truth is that sometimes the only thing that can keep us moving forward is to remember God and to trust in Him. The problem may not disappear, the problem may not get fixed, the person may not get healed, the money may not come in, the phone may not ring, the spouse may not come home, the dead person may not come back to life, the cancer may not leave, the persecution may not stop, the friends may not come back; and in those times, we need to turn to the Lord and trust in Him to carry us through and to strengthen our hearts.
Once my child died
My wife and pregnant with our child and went in labour when she was only 21 weeks pregnant. And some of you know that if a woman goes into labour when she is 21 weeks pregnant the baby will not survive; it is too early; the woman went into labour too early. The baby will die.
My wife went into labour at 21 weeks and our doctor told us that the baby was going to die; there was no hope at all; so we should get ready for the baby to die and to thank God for the other children we had. We accepted the reality; the baby was going to die.
The hospital said that because the baby was going to be born after more than 20 weeks of pregnancy we had to give the baby a name and we were going to have to bury the baby; it was considered a live birth. So we named the baby Charlie.
Charlie was born and the nurse gave the baby to me to hold in my arms; and I held little Charlie and he was warm and peaceful in my arms. He started to get cold after about an hour and died in my arms.
I cried and asked the Lord why He would send us a beautiful baby and then allow it to die so soon. The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said: “You don’t have to know why; you have to know that I love you and I will take care of you.” God was enough; God’s peace was enough to help me through the pain and suffering of my loss. Charlie died; but God was enough to carry me through the sorrow and the pain.
But I was very sad and scared because I did not know where Charlie was going to spend eternity; was Charlie going to go to heaven?
Just then I saw Jesus coming to me in a vision and He knelt down and opened up to take my baby son Charlie. I could feel the power and energy coming out of Jesus’ body and knew at that moment that no one could stop Jesus from doing whatever He chose to do. So Jesus came for my son but I looked down in my arms and saw that Charlie was still there and I got very scared.
Then I realized that Jesus does not come for the body – He comes for the soul. Jesus had come to take the soul of my son Charlie to be with Him in heaven forever – because I believe in Jesus Christ and Jesus promised that me and my family would be saved.
The doctor’s in the Hospital were very surprised how peaceful my wife and I were; how joyful we were in God’s presence and how strong we were to face such a difficult event with such peace and comfort. I told my doctor that he had just been a witness to me about what Jesus said to me; what Jesus said to me had come true.
Jesus said:
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”
And this is what happened to me and my wife; the Holy Spirit made us strong and gave us peace; we had courage to face what was coming upon us. We had the strength to face the death of our child. Jesus showed us that He loved us that He took the soul of our son to heaven. And the Holy Spirit gave us such peace and joy that the doctor in the hospital wanted to know how we got such peace. And so I told the doctor, “the peace we have comes from the Holy Spirit who is the one that Jesus said who comfort us and strengthen us in times of trouble; it is not my power that allows me to carry on – it is the power of the Holy Spirit in me who is helping me to face all the difficulties we have.”
Our lives our temporary but God lives forever
So remember my dear brother or sister, father or mother, son or daughter; remember that God loves you and that He is always there for you. He will help you in times of trouble even if you are facing terrible things and you feel so sad you think your heart will break and you are going to die. If you believe in Jesus and if you believe in God then God will help you.
God is eternal; God lives forever; God will never disappear – we will disappear from this earth and this earth itself will disappear – but God, His Holy Spirit, and His words will never disappear. Trust in the Lord and do not lean on your own understanding.