Well, welcome back again as we take you in another episode of Struggling Well, and this is isn't technically a sequel to last week, although it will feel like it has some tie-in to last week. And that is as Suzi talked about the verses and lamentations that have meant so much to her. I my mind also ran to the verses in Romans that depict the broken fallen world we all live in. And we forget sometimes that broken fallen world not only is for us, but is for all of creation. And Paul says in the eth chapter that all of creation is groaning and but not only creation but we grown as well and as we await the adoption we await the fulfillment of it all when Christ returns again and the spirit groans with us. and I think one of the things that is been true for me is that as I have lamented and groaned over the circumstances of life the way we've been experiencing them lately. I've always had this picture that I'm groaning and okay, yeah, the spirit's groaning, but Jesus is over on the sideline looking at me and going, "Get over it. Get on with it. Get on with your life." And the thought that has recently been introduced again was, "No, he's groaning with you."
And that was a powerfully different way to look at the situations I've and in as I've tried to work my way through them that Jesus is right there lamenting and groaning with me.
I think that's such a wonderful thought and a hard thought. and I'm not sure why we typically as followers of Christ think that he's off to the side and he's, you know, saying like you just said move on. I don't think we find that anywhere in scripture. We hear him say follow me, but he doesn't say to us, you know, get on with it. He says follow me. further in Lamentations, and we talked about this last week, we have evidence in scripture that God does hear. And Lamentations has been a place I've landed. You heard from last week, but here Jeremiah says this, again, I'm coming from the NLT. He says, "My tears flow endlessly. They will not stop until the Lord looks down from heavens and the heaven and sees he sees that my heart is breaking over the fate of all the in this case the women of Jerusalem. My enemies whom I have never harmed are hunting me down like a bird. They threw me into a pit and dropped stones on me. The water rose over my head and I cried out, "This is the end." And then this phrase and passage right here, but I called on your name, Lord, from deep within the pit. You heard me when I cried. Listen to my pleading. hear my cry for help. Yes, you came when I called and you told me do not fear. So the idea of groaning and being in that place of such intense pain, I don't know why it is our default to think that God has allowed this pain or discipline or whatever it is and then he's stepped away for like a coffee break. He's let us be in this terrible place and he's waiting for us to go Okay, okay, I'm done. Or he can come over kind of like looking at an egg cooking on the stove and go, "Yeah, you're done now. Now, let's move on." That's not the case. We know the spirit of God intercedes for us with groanings and utterings that we don't understand. But also, Jesus is if he says, "I'm with you. I will never leave you or forsake you." Then the truth is he's with us in our groaning, in our pain. He's groaning with us. I This is going to kind of I don't know if this is going to make sense. A lot of times people when they're in a place where they've been harmed in terrible ways, whether it's abuse or attack of some kind, will ask the question, "God, where were you?" And I've been thinking about this a lot. My background is has some abusive overtones to it. And I've really never asked that question. I you know, I'm pretty childish in my faith, but many people have said to me, "Suzi, where was God?" And it's easy to say, "Well, he was right there." Then The question is, well, why didn't he intercede? And I have to go back to the truth that when God created mankind and breathed him into him the breath of life, he gave them the ability. First of all, name the animals. He didn't tell them what to name the animals. He gave them choice. He gave him choice as to whether obey or not obey. There's that tree. Don't eat from it. And yet, he gave them the choice. If you eat from it, you're going to die. And they chose something other than him. So, from the beginning of time, create God created us with the ability to choose. And when I choose him and choose to follow him, I will glorify him. But I live in a world where people are choosing otherwise. The people that were abusers in my life, they chose not to listen to God, not to follow what God was doing, and they chose abuse as their mode of getting rid of whatever was inside of them. But the idea is while I was groaning, while I am groaning. Jimmy, while you're groaning, God is there and he says, "Don't be afraid."
Yeah. And that phrase, "Don't be afraid, fear not," it's said in different ways. It's one of the most repeated phrases throughout the scripture. And I think it's repeated because that is a natural reaction to the world we live in when things don't go our way or don't go the way we want it to. Fear is a powerful thing. And So over and over again, I think it's 70 plus times in the word of God, that idea of don't be afraid, do not fear. Why? Because I am with you. That's what God is trying to drive home for us is again, not that he's going to necessarily change the circumstances. And we can ask why all day long, but here's the reality. In the midst of those circumstances, he is present and with us. And his word to us is don't be afraid.
Well, what a couple of weeks ago you spoke from Psalm 23 and you and we got to that place where though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not be afraid because you're with me. So maybe what we have to struggle with is do we believe that he's with us or not?
Yeah. And by being with us again, it all kind of ties in together. It goes back to this idea of his steadfast love, which humanly speaking, we've never experienced that. We can do things to each other that would cause us to stop loving somebody.
There's nothing I can do that cause him to stop loving me. And so, because it's such a unique concept, it really requires us to go, "Wow, I all right. I'm not going to be afraid because you promise your love for me and it's never going to leave me." It's a great thought that doesn't often reach down into our hearts.
This week, we want you to struggle with the idea of is God present or not present? Do you believe he's with you or not with you? Do you believe that when you cry out for help that he hears you and says, "Don't be afraid because I'm with you." So, just kind of struggle with that. Sit with it and see where you end up. Thanks for joining us.