Stand By Me

As parents my wife and I have been through a lot of bad experiences with our kids.  We have seen them fall and hurt themselves, standing beside them in the emergency room while the doctor stitches up their wound.  Through times of sickness, failure, hardship, frustration, we were there with them.  Even as they get older you stand with them through their heartaches and broken hearts.  You watch them cry, feeling helpless and weak.

And as much as you don’t want them to experience those things they are part of life.  And as if we have the power to take away those experiences in life and shield them forever.  We can’t.  It’s all part of our experience in this life.  All we can do as parents is to stand by them, with them, beside them, assuring them that we are there for them when they need us, that no matter what they go through they are still our kids, and we will do anything in our power to lift them out of their situation.

It’s the same assurance our heavenly Father gives us.  Never in His Word did God promise us that if we walk with Him, if we surrender our lives to Him, would there be a perfect life with no problems or hardships.  On the contrary He warned us about them.

John 16:33  33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
NIV
Our Lord never hid that truth from us.  In this world we will have trouble!  It’s a “given” in this life we live in.  This was God’s way of telling us that our hope, our source of joy and happiness, cannot be in this world, because trouble will always be there.  But, as our Father, He assures us:

“I have told you these things so that IN ME you may have peace”.  Even if this world will bring trouble we can still find peace in Him.  Knowing He is with us, the God who overcame this world, gives us assurance that we can get through any and every circumstance this world has to throw at us.

Yes, the hardships and pain of this life will be there, but our Heavenly Father will always be there to see us through. 

Isaiah 43:2
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
NIV