listen I don't know who needs to hear this today there has never been a moment in your life when you have wept and the spirit of God has not wept with you not a moment there has not been a moment of your life where you rock back and forth on the edge of the bed no more words left just groaning groaning over your depression or anxiety or your grief or your fear of the future or Shame of the past or worried that you can't pay the bills whatever it is there's not been a single moment
when you've curled up on that couch incapacitated and the spirit of God himself hasn't curled up on that couch with you you've never been alone a day in your life especially the days where you feel most alone why because the spirit of God has been there interceding for you and for me with inexpressible groaning too deep for words he weeps with you you could take the Bible from Genesis to revelation you can boil it down into three words here's the three words god with us but Church don't don't think for a minute that just because
things feel distant that God has forgotten you that God is distant from you cuz he is not Jesus understands whatever you're going through did you lose somebody you loved Jesus had to deal with John the Baptist being beheaded you going through heartache or betrayal or hurt Jesus knows that Judas sold him out the disciples abandon him at one point or another as he's going to the Cross Jesus Jesus knows that feeling of isolation is it is it is it physical pain well Jesus knows that too as he's beaten as his side is pierced as he
hung on a cross to breathe his last breath Jesus Jesus knows pain so don't think that whatever you're going through in in your life that not only does he know but he's been there and he is able to sympathize with us and all of our weaknesses in all of our hurts in all of our frustration Jesus knows and so for whatever we're having to embrace he is with us there's a saying that you don't realize Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have when everything else is stripped away and you realize God
is enough that we would have that realization that God is good that Jesus is enough that even our present sufferings aren't worth comparing to the glory that's to be revealed God will use suffering to refine us to help make us more and more like like him and so there are things when it comes to suffering that we don't understand but here's what we can be assured of that God loves you God loves me God loves us the cross Jesus taking on our suffering the cross assures us that God loves us that God is for us
and the resurrection assures us that everything's going to work out in the end that even in a moment of the greatest suffering the world has ever seen Jesus hanging on a cross giving up his life placed in a tomb that the suffering did not have the final say there's a resurrection that God would use what was intended for evil for good that's the hope that we have this will end in jesus' name it's not going to be like this forever ever I am speaking that over you today it's not going to be like this forever
it's a season and if you're in a brainstorm whatever that looks like for you man God just wanted me to tell you there is something on the other side worth going through this storm for there's another side calling you it's not going to feel like this forever it's not going to feel like this forever but you need to find out firsthand that spring comes after winter every year and Jesus walks with you in the process you got to keep going you got to live man in jesus' name you haven't seen the best part of your
life yet you got to live you got to endure we need your story but you got to keep going the lake you're Crossing is a season not a life sentence keep moving pain has a way of feeling permanent keep moving there's never been a night a sunrise has not conquered there is no such thing as a storm he cannot tell to be still you keep moving You are not alone and the other side is calling you 2 Corinthians chapter 4 we come to a text that is powerful Paul speaking that is why we never give
up though our bodies are dying our Spirits are being renewed every day for our present troubles are small and won't last very long yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever so we don't look at the troubles we can see now rather we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen for the things we see now will soon be gone but the things we cannot see will last forever and let me tell you from the vantage point of my suffering I faced in this life that it is
only Jesus that has been rock for me under my feet to sustain me in trials and crisis that I never would have thought never would have imagined I could have faced it and and made it through the other side and come out with the Light of Christ shining in my eye to be here in this moment pointing you to the Jesus who has saved me and given me strength and been my peace and my stay been the Rock of Ages for me that I can that I can hide and take refuge in and and stand
here before you to say nothing in my hand I bring but simply to thy cross I claim let God use your your pain suffering if I believe anything in my life I believe is not an obstacle to you being used by God it is an opportunity to be used like never before because as CS Lewis put it hardships often prepare Ordinary People for Extraordinary Destiny we might not understand the why but God does and he is working in the midst of your so don't think he's abandoned you or left you or that he's abdicated his
throne because he is still on the throne he is still ruling and reigning he has not forgotten and he is still faithful even when our pain tells us otherwise he has not forsaken you he has not abandoned you he is with you he has a plan even for your pain he is good he is just and so church when it hurts look at him and his love and his character his sovereignty his faithfulness his strength his righteousness that's what we focus on when we have nowhere else to turn to