Can you FEEL IT?

  fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. 

Isa 41:10

This is a familiar scripture that you hear in song and see on many posters.  The promise of God to be there for us, uphold us, and be our strength for us. Yet for many, such faith does not come so quickly. Our circumstances, lives, billows and waves get in the way.  And if we allow them, they can become so dark that they will seek to block God out altogether. Therein lies the danger, and therein lies the Devil's greatest strength and lie.  

Your circumstances cannot change the character of God. God is God no matter where you are. He is still there in full force; He is still for you, even when you can't "feel it." Intellect and emotion have to balance one another in service to God.  If I have all intellect, but no emotion, then my faith is empty. If my faith is all emotion but no intellect, then I am not basing my faith on truth. In the same sense, we cannot become emotionless beings, acting on facts alone. Only the facts may be truthful, but it has no emotion, understanding, love, grace, or mercy. It is alone.  In the same manner, to have all emotion and no fact of truth is to operate without a guide. Faith then is a presumption based on how you feel, and if something disappoints you and lets down your emotion then there is nothing to hold up your faith. Jesus said we must worship in "spirit and in truth" Jn.4:24.

Remind yourself what you know to be eternally true about God:  He is good, he loves you, he is with you, he knows what you’re going through, he cares, and he has a good plan for your life. Raymond Edman, once said, “Never doubt in the dark what God told you in the light.”

So, what has God told you in the light that you now doubt in the dark? Why do you doubt God now, when what has done for you in the past has proven that He knows you? Remember, your circumstances cannot change the character of God, but they can change you!  Paul reminded Timothy, "A soldier on active duty wants to please his commanding officer and so does not get mixed up in the affairs of civilian life. " 2 Tim 2:4 And when our circumstances threaten to swallow us, we must remind ourselves,  "..looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." Heb 12:2,3 

Is your life a cacophony of emotions and mayhem that toss you around like a rag doll? Does it make you wonder if God is there, or even if there is a God at all? Does it make God seem small in comparison to what you face?  If so, then remember two things.  

1. 1 Cor 14:33  For God is not a God of confusion but of peace 
2. 1 Pet 5:8  Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 

Take care if you are in this stage of life, for it is exactly where Satan wants you to be - in a place where you will forget God!

Jim