God Is Present | God Is Week 5

God does not promise that we will not face difficult and even dark seasons of life, but He does promise that He will be with us in all of it. Joe Scruggs shares with us from his own life how God is present in what seems to be the darkest of times. God Is Present God Is | Week 5 September 2, 2018 | Joe Scruggs What is GOD’S ROLE in this season? Accept the MYSTERY, especially with WHY questions. Be brutally HONEST, God can handle it. Psalm 77:1-10 NLT I cry out to God; yes, I shout. Oh, that God would listen to me! When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord. All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted. I think of God, and I moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help. You don’t let me sleep. I am too distressed even to pray! I think of the good old days, long since ended, when my nights were filled with joyful songs. I search my soul and ponder the difference now. Has the Lord rejected me forever? Will he never again be kind to me? Is his unfailing love gone forever? Have his promises permanently failed? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he slammed the door on his compassion? And I said, “This is my fate; the Most High has turned his hand against me.” Psalm 42:3, 9-10 NIV My tears have been my food day and night…I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” My bones suffer mortal agony… Don’t put God in a BOX, He might not work in the way you think He should. God will get you THROUGH, but it’s NOT EASY. Act on the LIGHT YOU HAVE, even if it’s very DIM. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our enemy’s will, looks upon a universe in which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken and still obeys. C.S. Lewis | The Screwtape Letters Keep PRAYING, even though it’s HARD! EFFECTIVE prayer is when we become more FOCUSED ON GOD.