rl69
10-24-2017, 06:55 AM
At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them.
—2 Timothy 4:16
You can look to people for comfort, but I have to warn you: You will be disappointed. Yes, people will help you at times. People will encourage you at times. And indeed, God will work through people to do these things for you.
We may sometimes look with envy on the lives of the rich, the famous, the powerful, and the beautiful. But I would rather be in the worst place imaginable with the Lord than in the greatest place imaginable without Him.
Writing of the apostle Paul, the great preacher C. H. Spurgeon said, “If all else forsook him, Jesus was company enough; if all despised him, Jesus’ smile was patronage enough; if the good cause seemed to be in danger, in the presence of the Master victory was sure. The Lord who stood for him at the cross now stood by him in prison.”
We don’t read of the local Christians coming to Paul’s aid at this point. In fact, there were a lot of times when people let Paul down. Have you ever felt that way? Has it ever seemed as though everyone has abandoned you? Sometimes we even falsely think that God has let us down.
Don’t look to people for answers; look to God. Ultimately it will come down to this: God is with you, even if others have forsaken you. This you can be sure of: God is with you.
That is how David was able to get through his valleys. He said, “Yea, 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” (Psalm 23:4). He knew that God was there.
God can compensate, by His own loving presence, for every earthly loss.
—2 Timothy 4:16
You can look to people for comfort, but I have to warn you: You will be disappointed. Yes, people will help you at times. People will encourage you at times. And indeed, God will work through people to do these things for you.
We may sometimes look with envy on the lives of the rich, the famous, the powerful, and the beautiful. But I would rather be in the worst place imaginable with the Lord than in the greatest place imaginable without Him.
Writing of the apostle Paul, the great preacher C. H. Spurgeon said, “If all else forsook him, Jesus was company enough; if all despised him, Jesus’ smile was patronage enough; if the good cause seemed to be in danger, in the presence of the Master victory was sure. The Lord who stood for him at the cross now stood by him in prison.”
We don’t read of the local Christians coming to Paul’s aid at this point. In fact, there were a lot of times when people let Paul down. Have you ever felt that way? Has it ever seemed as though everyone has abandoned you? Sometimes we even falsely think that God has let us down.
Don’t look to people for answers; look to God. Ultimately it will come down to this: God is with you, even if others have forsaken you. This you can be sure of: God is with you.
That is how David was able to get through his valleys. He said, “Yea, 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” (Psalm 23:4). He knew that God was there.
God can compensate, by His own loving presence, for every earthly loss.