Let this be an encouragement to somebody, anybody who will receive this word this morning. To someone who is stressed and stretched beyond measure, and you don’t know what to do. You are at your wits’ end and your back is against the wall, and every door seems to be closed in your face; going through something and it seems that nothing has changed and nothing will change; depleted funds and limited income have us in a bad place, and we don’t know what to do.
When your house is in foreclosure, your health is in decline; working two or three jobs just trying to meet in the middle; and the faith that you are standing on seems to disappear … dealing with bereavement has taken your breath away and you’re caught up in a whirlwind, to you I speak this morning.
If you look around in your church, you will see a room full of people who can testify that when their backs were against the wall in one way or another, God made a way somehow. Are y’all with me this morning? You all have your stories; single parents have your stories; parents who have raised their children, who are now grown, stand up and testify. You can tell us something this morning. There were times when you just could not see your way; days you didn’t know if you were going to make it.
If I were to open up a testimony service, many of you can pop up like popcorn with tears in your eyes: “When I could not see my way … you remember … diagnosis, surgery, X-ray that went the wrong way …” Father, I stretch my hand to thee. I don’t know where to turn, who I could talk to, and I don’t know what to do; fathers who struggled with your children; not being able to provide some of the basic needs of your family; laid off or the job is not paying enough to survive.
Personally, I’ve been there, where your wife is sick and has to quit her job and everything falls on the husband financially. How do you feed your family when two people’s income turns into one? But the bills are based on two people … That’s a struggle; somebody is there today … I feel you!
But sometimes struggle is needed; sometimes struggles make us better; it increases our faith; it creates in us a dependence on God. In it, we see a source in God that we would not otherwise see. When anything knocks us to our knees, we’re in the perfect place to talk to God … on our knees!!! Because then we can hear God speak to us.
God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, said to the nation of Israel, “Fear thou not; for I am with you: be not dismayed; for I am your God: I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isa. 41:10). That’s all we need to know … that’s all they needed to know. But they turned away from Him and served idol gods.
Why do folk turn away from God when times get tough? They run into the arms of the devil; I don’t understand that. When times get tough, that’s the time to run to God … we need Him when times get tough. This nation did not get it. Community, if we feel that we can’t make it with God, how do we think we can make it without God? And how can I leave a God that loves me and run to a devil that wants to destroy me?
God had already proved Himself to this nation of people, time after time … and He’s proved Himself to us. In all that we go through, there is a purpose (Rom. 8:28). The people of Israel need not fear. Even in captivity, the Lord will make a way somehow! Even though Israel was exiled because of sin and unbelief, even though it was their fault that they were in captivity, she still was **not rejected** by God. Nothing would separate them from the love of God (Rom. 8:38-39).
May I remind you this morning that, “God didn’t bring you this far to leave you; He did not teach you how to swim to let you drown; He didn’t build His home in you to move away; He didn’t lift you up just to let you down!”
I can personally testify that sometimes God will show up at the last minute, the very last second, but He’ll show up right on time; when we can’t see no way … like Israel, if He has to, He’ll open a Red Sea; make water come from a rock, turn clear water into red wine, calm the raging sea, to make a way for His children.
A song written by Thomas A. Dorsey sums up what I’m saying today. It says, “Like a ship that’s tossed and driven, battered by an angry sea … when the storms of life are raging, and their fury falls on me … I wonder what have I done, to make this race so hard to run … Then I say to my soul, Soul take courage, the Lord will make a way somehow … When beneath the cross I bow … He will take away each sorrow; let Him have your burdens now; when the load bears down so heavy, the weight is shown upon my brow … there’s a sweet relief in knowing the Lord will make a way somehow.”
I don’t know how this thing is going to turn out, but I do know the Lord will make a way somehow!