When life gets difficult or painful, I can turn aside from God instead of leaning into Him. In trying times I begin to ask, “Where are you God?”  I can even blame God and say, “This is your fault God.”  When things hurt or become confusing, secretly, I may even think, “God does not love me.”

All these thoughts are very far from the truth. Emotions like anger and fear can block our minds to considering truth or lead us into shallow thinking.

We do not have to be academically gifted to understand the truth of God’s love. We only need to think with a grain of faith of what we know about God and we will see His love.

I love Romans 5:10 and 8:32. Think deeply about what these verses are really saying about God and His love for us.

• “We were God’s enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Now that we are God’s friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ’s life!” NLT
• “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?” Romans 8:32 (BSB)

In these passages, I hear God reminding us that He has already given His highest and best. He suffered His Son, Jesus to put on flesh and blood to become the sacrifice that atones for our wrongs, so that we can have a relationship with God. He will provide everything we need within that relationship.

The truth is that God gave His Son, Jesus to die for us. Since He did this we then are assured of the second truth that He will provide for us and be faithful to care for us in all things. It does not mean everything will be easy and comfortable the way we think, but it does mean that He will be with us at all times and provide us with what we need.

Presented in this blog are truths about God’s love and presence in our life. Take these into your heart and let them encourage your faith at all times, but most especially in these insecure times.

God Is Personally Involved in Our Lives
It is true, there are times that I wonder what is happening. I may feel so fearful or discouraged that I wonder, “Where is God?” If I take time to read God’s word I can know He is here with me even when I don’t see evidence of it.

• Psalm 56:8– You keep track of all my sorrows.You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.
• Psalm 139:16-You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
• Psalm 34:17– When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit
• Romans 8:28 – And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
• Matthew 10:29-31– Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
• John 10:3 -To him (Jesus) the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
• John 10:14, 15 – I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.
• Psalm 139:1-5 – O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up;you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
• John 17:20-23 – I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,  I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Making His Presence Real in Your Life
My view of life is so far from God’s. That may be because my focus can too often be on my “self.” Read these truths about God and his involvement in your life. Consider each one carefully. Meditate on each passage.

Ask yourself:

• What is the “personal” action(s), attitude(s) or thought(s) of God in each one of these scriptures?
• Then, ask yourself, how do I see God doing this, being this in my life?
• Examine your heart, your faith, events/relationships in your life. What are the weak points? Where do you need to pray for strengthening?
• Pick one of these areas of your faith and write down ways that these truths about God’s heart for you and his presence in your life can strengthen that area.

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Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Ps. 23:4