The Stronghold

There has been a false teaching that has been passed down through the years that as soon as you give your life to Christ, all your problems would disappear, and you would only receive good things in this world. Well, anyone who has any kind of spiritual maturity or isn’t out to make money knows that this teaching is far from true. In fact, the Lord teaches us that to follow Him is to carry a cross. The Lord even tells us in John 16:33 that in this world we will have tribulation.

This whole wealth and health teaching that is being taught in some churches is a bunch of nonsense and goes against the very truth that the word of God tells us. Many of you who are receiving this blog/devotion know that even as followers of Jesus, we have gone through some extremely difficult times. Does this mean that we are not really saved? Absolutely not, just read the Bible and you will find that all the followers of Christ faced many horrible things. Does this mean that the Lord has forsaken us, that He has turned and walked away from us? Again, I say no, a thousand times no.

So, what do we do when we go through the hard times of life, the times we feel so helpless? We pray as David did as he was being chased by King Saul in the wilderness. In Psalm 31:2-3, “Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly; Be to me a rock of strength, A stronghold to save me. 3 For You are my rock and my fortress; For Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me.” We sometimes just need to be reminded that our God loves us, and He has not forsaken us. Like David, we probably won’t understand at the time why we are going through this horrible time in our lives, but what we do know is that, like David, we have the ear of God to hear our cries for help and mercy. Like David, we also must remind ourselves that our Lord is our rock of strength, our very help in times of trouble. He is our stronghold and our fortress that we can run to for safety and refuge. We do this by crying out to the Great I AM that loves us and trusting Him that He not only hears, but He will respond. David reminds us why He would do this. God does these amazing things in our lives for His name’s sake. God has a reputation to uphold. The reputation that He will not leave nor forsake those whom He loves. But we must listen, and He will guide us through troubled waters, and through Him we will make it through to the other side of what is trying to destroy us. Our God is bigger and greater than the things that would try to take our joy and lives from us. Let us be like David and cry out to our rock and fortress, for He is still on the throne.