It is very easy to assume or to think that at some point in life when we are going through difficulties, that God will work in a way that will prevent us from going through the test. I know that in my life there was a moment in which I came to think that difficulties could not come to me in a tragic way because God takes care of me and protects me. That somehow my faith in him and my trust in him would prevent him from going through difficult and tragic times.
The truth is that God is faithful and he does protect us and keeps His word, but very recently I have lived a very difficult, desperate and painful moment that made me wonder, why am I going through this moment of difficulty, of despair, of anguish, stress, pain, illness in my life? I thought that God was taking care of me, taking care of his children.
When you go through the deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burden up; the flames will not consume you.
Isaiah 43:2 (NLT)
In this scripture we can clearly notice that God promises to be with us in the midst of deep waters, in the midst of rivers of difficulty, in the midst of fire and flames. He doesn’t say that he would prevent us from passing through them, he says that he would be with us. And you know, the truth is that I know, we would prefer that God prevent us from going through difficulties and sufferings. That we don’t have to face those moments in our life. But friend and friend, what we can be sure of is that we can trust that he he will fulfill what he says.
He says that he will be there, next to us in the deep waters.
When we go through deep water and feel like we are drowning, it is exasperating and agonizing. When we go through those rivers of difficulties, and we feel that the current carries us and we will not be able to get out of there. That feeling of inability where your strength is not enough and you start to sink more and more. Where little by little the air begins to lack you and you feel that you cannot take it anymore, that is where God says “I will be with you.”
As He is with us, we can stop trying to float to survive. We can simply let ourselves be carried away by him, as he promises to be by our side. He says that when we go through the fire of oppression, the flames will not burn us. Going through the middle of the fire is painful, agonizing, desperate, when we feel that the flames are getting closer and closer to our skin about to start hurting our body.
His promise is that we will not burn, but it does not mean that we will not have to go through a moment of intense heat, which weakens you, suffocates you, makes you doubt if you will get out of there, fills us with fear and fear, his promise is that he will be there with us and will not let the flames burn us. It means that, if we will spend moments in the fire, where we will experience those circumstances in our life that are painful, suffocating, that weaken us and make us feel fearful. But today we can rest in the midst of those difficult times, and know that God keeps his promise and that he will be by our side and protect us until we get out of the other side of the difficulties.
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