power belongs to God and not to us. 8We are afflicted in every way,
but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9persecuted,
but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying
in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be
manifested in our bodies.
- 1 Corinthians 4:7-10
God is with you. Isn't that just typical of what a pastor would say? I
figured you might be thinking that. God is with you, brother. And you
too, sister. But what does that really mean? How does that really
work?
Meet Dan. He's a faithful follower of Jesus in our church. Until a few
months ago, Dan was a senior partner at one of the world's largest
global investment banks. Dan worked there for 25 years and was very
successful. The company was solid, blue chip year after year, with
multiple billions in capital. Dan didn't have a whole lot to worry
about until this year...
Did you ever see the movie, It's a Wonderful Life? Remember when
everyone ran to the bank to withdraw their savings because they heard
that the bank was running out of money? Everyone rushed to the
tellers, shouting and demanding their cash. The whole bank would
collapse since everybody wanted all of their money the same day.
That's what happened to his company in 2008. Over the course of the
year, and then finally over a couple of days, their stock value
plummeted, people "ran the bank," and the company collapsed. One day
Dan and his colleagues were solid and stable, and a couple dizzying
days later, they were bankrupt. All completely out of their control.
Dan lost everything.
That's so sad, you might think. How's it going for Dan? The surprising
answer is great. He's full of joy and praising the Lord. Unbelievable!
I've been on the phone with him several times in the last two months.
He's filled the presence of the Lord. He says, "James, my heart goes
out to the people around me. They're collapsing at their desks in
tears. They've lost everything." He said, "But I still have
everything. I have the Lord! The Lord is on my side. The Lord is my
Helper. I will not fear what man can do to me" (Psalm 188:6). Dan is
going around his dying company, sharing the Lord with people in their
darkest, most desperate hour.
Now how can you explain that? I'm telling you: The Lord is with him
and that story isn't finished yet. Dan is finding, as you can, that
you can put your whole weight down on God's great and precious promise
that He will always be with you and it will sustain you.
Reprinted from Pastor James MacDonald's weekly Walk In The Word series
