When God Is With You

Jesus asked the question, “Where is your faith?” It is a fitting question for some have endured trials that have weakened their faith. They have endured the kind of trials that make the strong weak, that make the rich poor, that make the healthy sick, that make the bold fearful, that bring those brimming with hope for a particular thing close to hopelessness. This can happen when you have been tried for a long time without deliverance. When like Hannah you have been pregnant with desire for years but have no son. When like Joseph you are wrongfully imprisoned with no hope for freedom. When like Job one bad situation after another rains upon your existence leaving you shattered, broken, even sick, a mere shadow or your former self, wondering if God is punishing you for the sins of your youth. 

To your mind, it seems impossible for things to be the way they were before or even better. Who will replace what you have lost? Who will retrieve what has been stolen from you? Who will resurrect that which has died? Who will mend what has been broken? Who will dry your tears? Jesus can and will if you will only hold on and believe him. 

The Jews were in a similar situation after they came out of Babylonian captivity. When Cyrus sent them back to Jerusalem with an order to build the temple there was much happiness. They encountered opposition almost from the beginning but continued building during his reign. Eventually, however the kingdom changed hands and when the new king, Xerxes, received a letter from their opposition against the construction of the city, he sided with the opposition and commanded the stoppage of all building in Jerusalem. Thusly, work on the temple, stopped by force, was discontinued for about a decade. 

This killed the people’s faith such that in Haggai 1:2 we find them saying, “The time has not yet come for the rebuilding of the house of the Lord”. You can almost read their thoughts. “If the time for the rebuilding had come God would not have allowed the work to be stopped”. “Where will we get the materials to build the temple when we are hardly making it as it is?” “God’s hand must not be with us else he would not have allowed the work to be stopped”. “Are we still being punished for our sins?” “Darius will probably continue Xerxes policies.” All these and more they must have thought and discussed amongst themselves. 

When God showed them how he had stunted their financial progress because they did not resume the building of the temple they feared the Lord and began to do what he said so God sent the prophet Haggai to them again. Haggai 1:13-14 reads, “Then Haggai the Lord’s messenger gave this message to the people, “I am with you”, declares the Lord, so the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of people. The came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty their God”. 

God had to remind them that he was with them as he is reminding those of us who trust in him today. When God is with you he will silence those who oppose you. When God is with you he will send supernatural provision. When God is with you he will enable you by stirring up your spirit to faith. When God is with you there is no need to fear. You only have to be make sure that you have not neglected his will in your life and if you have correct it. 

The text said that God stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the spirit of Joshua and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. A people who did not have any faith now had the faith to do what God wanted. When God is with you a delay may occur but that does not mean that he will not stir what needs to be stirred in you and others so that his purposes and your desires may be achieved. The book of Ezra shows us how God stirred up king Darius to command the resumption of the building of the city of Jerusalem and the temple. Darius commanded the costs for the rebuilding of the temple to be paid by the royal treasury. He also commanded the death of anyone who interfered and more. God indeed had stirred up even Darius the king of Persia. 

Some have been under trial so long that they have forgotten that God can and will bring deliverance. Some have wondered what kept him from doing for them as he has for others. Now trust has waned but you must know and believe that God is still with you. I want you to remember Lazarus for a moment. He was dead for four days. No one believed Jesus could raise Lazarus from the dead except Martha but her faith was weakened by the fact that Lazarus had been dead for four days. Jesus called him out from the tomb and he came forth wrapped in the grave clothes with no stench on him. Is there anything too hard for God? Is there anything impossible with him? If he could raise Lazarus from the dead, stir up Cyrus, Darius and the Jews to accomplish his purposes for the benefit of the Jews can he not stir up those that you need and you for your own benefit. Certainly he can! 

Remember God is with you. Pray for God to be with you. Believe that God is with you. Why should we pray for and believe that God is with us? Why should we desire for God to be with us? Ecclesiastes 3:14 states, “Whatever God does will last forever”. He is able to sustain what he gives. He is able to keep the ashes out of your life and maintain the beauty in it. He is able to keep you filled with the oil of gladness and heal your mourning heart. He is able to keep you in a garment of praise and take that spirit of heaviness from you forever. What God does will last forever, his salvation is forever, for his grace is built to last forever, his peace is forever, his joy is forever, his love is forever. God is eternal. Who else is like this and on whom else can you rely for these things? 

Since God can be relied upon let us pray that he will stir up the spirits of others in our behalf and not just that but that he will stir up our own spirits to continue in the faith, to do his will that we may inherit the eternal life he has promised. Let us watch and pray as he says that we may be accounted worthy to escape all those things that will come to pass and stand before the presence of the Son of Man. He said to pray this always. If we pray it he can and will do it. Expect this and expect your deliverance here in this earth also for when God is with you he will work all things together for your good.