Not If, But When

Isaiah 43:1-2

Our verses for today teach us at least two things:

1. God is ALWAYS with us!

2. The question is not if we will suffer through difficult times, but when will we suffer through difficult times.

Difficulties, hardships, and sufferings are a given. They are part of our life and we will go through them. But, we can take joy in the knowledge that God always delivers. Based on scripture, I have been taught and I believe He delivers in one of three ways.

The first way He delivers is to deliver us from a situation. We have all known or heard testimonies about people who were diagnosed with cancer or some other deadly infirmity only to be completely healed and restored. God does still heal and do not let anyone tell you different! He still delivers His children from situations for His glory.

The second way is by delivering us through a situation. This is what our verses teach us today. "When you pass through the waters...when you walk through the fire..."God is not going to leave nor forsake us. He will walk through suffering and hardships with us. This is often when we grow so much in our faith, because we are so dependent on God. In my own life I can honestly say that I would go through the hard times again because of what God taught me. I am so much closer to Him today because of the suffering I have gone through. Satan just did not have a clue what God was up to!

The third and final way He delivers is by delivering us into His arms. I know that we would never choose this option, but if we really had any kind of grasp on what it meant to be with Him forever and ever, we would take this option every time! Eventually we will all be delivered into His arms. When someone dies that we have earnestly prayed for, let us never think that God was unfaithful or that He did not deliver that person. He just choose to deliver him home.

We can take tremendous comfort in knowing that God is going to be there for us no matter what the circumstance. Suffering is a given, but in light of eternity, I pray that we will suffer with faithfulness.

I believe God brought this scripture to my mind specifically today because He has been so faithful to us through the situation with our son Joel. He has a speech disorder and has been in therapy for over a year. A few weeks ago his therapist told me that he was down to 5% disfluency (he has a stuttering disorder) which falls into the normal range for his age group. While I was excited, I was afraid to get my hopes up. However, yesterday at his 4 year old check up, his pediatrician said that he would have never have guessed or even known that Joel had ever had a problem with speech. So now I am excited and just want to shout Hallelujah and Praise the Lord! Your love truly endures forever!