We’re living in an era of extremes.. Temperatures our rising, tempers are too. We’re experiencing drought conditions in some parts of the country while others are surrounded by floods. We hear our president give words of reassurance regarding the situation in Afghanistan and at the same time we see mobs in the streets and a Taliban unit of special forces, loaded with arms from the United States. What are we to think? Does God even hear our voices anymore?

When times of extreme testing occur, it’s natural for us to want someone to blame and it would seem God is the perfect recipient. He controls the wind, the seas and skies and the very weather that surrounds us. He is often accused of the storms that happen to each one of us as we trudge through every day. Why do we attack the only One who can bring us relief?

Our headlines are filled with gloom and doom. People are raging at one another to get vaccinated. Those who don’t should assume the blame of killing off their neighbors, Blame God, blame your friends and family. Blame the media. Blame science. Actually the only ones we have to blame for this state of affairs is US! You and me and all the citizens of the world could be living in paradise today, but man fell into temptation and thus we are still paying for his foolish mistake. Once sin entered the world everything became tarnished and difficult. God tells us that we’ll endure hardships in this life. He doesn’t cause them, but allows them to happen to strengthen us. All the bad things of life can be blamed on Satan, but it’s really mankind that fell from God’s perfect world. Satan was first to do that however and he’s been shoving his way through minds, emotions, fears, anger, hatred, anxiety, hopelessness and despair since the creation of man. He continues to hammer away at us through temptation, but also by turning us from the relationship we have with God and into his snare of hell.

God even had a solution for that. He sent His Son to destroy Satan. Because Jesus was sacrificed on a brutal cross, suffered for our sins, was scorned, humiliated and spat upon, He alone was the sin bearer for the entire population of the world. When he lay lifeless in the grave, His Spirit was doing battle with the evil one and finally crushed him, so that he has no power over us anymore. When Jesus returned to life and showed his risen body to many after the resurrection, He also show us that we will rise again after death. Our sins have been paid for and we will become a part of God’s heavenly paradise.

I can’t imagine the pain that people are going through right now, but I know that God went through much more to bring us eternal life. When we place the burdens of life on His shoulders, we are in an active relationship with Him. I’m not saying the pain will disappear or that the anxiety will lessen, but you will be able to get through it with God’s precious gift to us. Instead of looking at the worst case scenario, we need to look for the positives even in the darkness that surrounds us. He will sustain us. He will carry our load. He will bring us safely to heaven and give us a special place in his heavenly realm.

GOD IS DEFINITELY OUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH – A GREAT HELP IN ALL TIMES OF TROUBLE OR WORRY. HE IS THE ROCK OF OUR SALVATION!