Psalm 34:18-20 The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken. (NKJV)

Bishop Joseph Mukiira

What a good reassurance to receive in whatever situations one is having or going through current time; when we have issues affecting our lives in a negative way we often have a tendency of feeling abandoned, neglected and uncared for. Some other times we may feel that nobody cares that we are in deep trouble of any kind, may be it is lack of essential commodities in life including love or in the midst of any kind of adversity or crisis, it is always important to remember that there is help at hand for those who believe in our ever present and saving God.

I might not have captured your circumstances exactly in my short summary but one thing I know for sure is that God is right there with you in every situation that is affecting you, both good and bad. We must learn and purposely train our minds to see God in every situation that is afflicting us. We must have full confidence that it is only for a season that we might be low. Learn to look at your situations through God’s own eyes, because by so doing you’ll always be on top of things and not under.

Christians today are so much pressured from every corner to conform to the standards of the world; they too sometimes have tendencies to look at things from a pessimistic angle because they have been influenced by the enemy. Without knowledge they have been used by the enemy to propagate his agenda in their lives instead of propagating God’s agenda. Such actions might seem a little trivial but their implications are enormous, without knowing it we have from time acceded defeat even before attempting a fight. That is exactly where the enemy wants us to be! We must always expect help from God because He has promised to deliver us from all sorts of troubles.

I am writing this not to put you to shame but to enlighten you to the fact that there is more to live for than meets the eye. The enemy knows it that is why you must hang on regardless of what you are going through, help is on the way.  Might be your timing and urgency might differ but be sure it will come. Though it might not be very obvious but you can be assured that it will surely come. This brings into mind what Mordecai said when they were in dire need of support from Queen Esther in Esther 4:14 – for if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such time as this? KJV

Here the Jews were in great distress without any course of redress; a sure impending annihilation, destruction and confiscation of their properties orchestrated by Haman son of Agag their enemy was in the offing. When Mordecai learnt of it he didn’t keep quite but went straight to inform the queen of his discovery; whom it appears either misunderstood the import of the message or Mordecai took it that the queen’s way of handling the emergency insufficient.

He knew very well that God would plan and execute their rescue at the right time, so he confidently told queen thus. This is someone, though in captivity knew that God would never abandon them at their hour of need.  Though he sought assistance from the queen he also knew that such help would be limited. God was the true help for them under such circumstances and indeed He gave the queen favour in King’s sight. This is what happens to those who trust in the Lord, He gives you favour even when you are going against all laid down traditions, nobody was allowed to appear before the king unless summoned but Esther did not wait for such formalities.

She went with one mind and one mind only “if I perish I perish.” Who could have given her such a heart? Only God Himself could. When you realize that God is with you, you can do anything without fear of consequences. The queen wanted to save her people, although she was not in any eminent danger herself, she put her life on the line for the sake of others. The selfless act depicted above touched the heart of God, the distress was severe but God reversed all the traps laid by Haman against him. Whatever he purposed to happen to the Jews and Mordecai was reversed upon him and his people, they were caught in their own devices because God always delivers those who are His, a people with contrite spirit.

Today born again Christians have a habit of limiting God whenever they are faced with situations that are unfavourable to them. They need to understand that the level of their thought is not God’s level because there are situations that He knows and allows to come upon us so that when He has rescued us we might glorify Him and those seeing such kind of deliverance might seek His help too. We should be His ambassadors whether in favourable times or otherwise.

Psalm 30:5 for His anger lasts only for moment, but His favour lasts a lifetime;  weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning,  NIV.

The psalmist knew that God might at times allow adversity to come our way whenever He wants us to learn something; He is never angry for a long time because He is gracious towards us in everything. When such situations arise we cry for help out of anguish and pain but again it is only for a short time.

His favour lasts a lifetime, that is why the night is shortened and we are able to receive joy in the morning; this is the joy that last for ever, nobody and nothing take it away unless we throw it away ourselves. What a merciful Father He is. Everyone needs this favour and should be on look out for it; whenever an opportunity presents itself we must take and glorify God in the process.

Daniel 3:17, 18 if it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. KJV.

This incident took place involving four servants of God who were under eminent demise of execution by king Nebuchadnezzar.  These were Daniel, Meshack, Shadrack and Abednego who had been accused by envious nobles of defying the king’s directive. These servants of God knew exactly the consequences of their actions, they were fully aware of the gravity of their situation and that of their words yet they testified to the ever present ability of their God to save and rescue them from the fire and the hand of the dictator.

They so valiantly said it, they didn’t even need a spokesman so they answered in unison, that our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. My question to you today is this; do you know the God you serve this well? If you really and truly did, you would not whine half of the time.

These gentlemen knew without a shade of doubt where their God was, they were sure of their salvation, to make it more beautiful is the fact they were ready to die for what they believed in. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. I have previously indicated that Nebuchadnezzar represents Satan; the enemy of God’s people and these servants of God knew the same from the outset, they were not there to plead for their lives but to declare the saving glory of the true God. They were not scared of what the king would do unto them but what God could do for them, how amazing!

David was someone who was always in trouble with King Saul but He is confidently saying that The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit, the secret is in being able to look at things from God’s eyes and through our own eyes. Circumstance and situations will always want to magnify themselves but God wants us to ignore their size and magnify His ability to extract us from any kind of danger and at the same say like Meshack, Shadrack and Abednego that even if He doesn’t save now He is still our God.

Christians ought to live like this, in full knowledge that God saves and even if He chooses not to, He has a good reason not to. We therefore should be willing and ready to accept and respect His decision because His ways are higher than ours. His thoughts are higher than ours period. It also evident that God was aware of what was happening to His servants but He wanted to act at the right moment to remove any doubt to all, that all could see and glorify Him. Remember He let Job go through a troubling period characterized with great loss of physical properties and loved ones, but when His time to act was right, He did act like never before. Job indeed testified that he only had heard of Him by the hearing of the ear and now He had seen Him with his eyes, what an experience!!

Jeremiah 45:5
and do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring adversity on all flesh,” says the LORD. “But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.” (NKJV)

Many people want great things for themselves at all times, nobody wants small things or enough things but they always want great things. God had a good reason why He said to the people of Israel through prophet Jeremiah not to seek great things for themselves, because He could provide even greater things to them. Jesus said do not be troubled with many things and indeed He sent His disciples out with only what they were wearing in order to experience God’s caring provision.

Many of the troubles we find ourselves in don’t come to us by default but by design; so designed by our Creator to teach us to depend on Him always. Here He has acknowledged that He is responsible bringing trouble to all flesh but out of that trouble will come a prize that can never be bought anywhere on earth. Just like Job’s adversity brought him the best of all things such as there were none in the world to compare. His daughters are on record as the most beautiful on earth in their time; his herds were multiplied many times over just to mention a few and everything about him was outstanding. God induced adversity brings about elements that are extraordinary; anyone who needs to rise from mundane should not complain every time some kind of hardship comes their way but should trust God to get them out of such situations as He faithfully will.

It is said that the best of all precious metals is refined through fire; in the same way we too should because we are so precious to Him. The contrite and humble heart is what is required, whenever our hearts start showing any signs of pride or self exaltation God brings adversity to bring us down to size. Many people don’t know this; instead they complain, sometimes doubt God’s love and in some extremes denounce their faith for easy gains in life. Through this process they lose the promise of God, “But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.” This life is the most important thing to every Christian worth his salt.

Whining and complaining brings the reverse of this promise and we know that when the children of Israel did it they were killed by poisonous snakes in the desert. God through the hand of His servant Moses saved them via the bronze serpent. Today we have our salvation guaranteed through the death of Jesus, yet we have not learnt our lessons. Waiting upon the Lord even in the times of trouble brings blessing upon blessing. We should have unwavering faith that no matter what the prevailing circumstances are and no matter how long our adversity lasts He is able to save and give us life and joy. Eventually He will come to your rescue, just believe. For more of this teaching/preaching logon to: www.journey2joy.org.

Prayer: Heavenly Father I thank yet for another opportunity to speak Your word to your people. May this word bless their lives and bring the desired change in them, and open their hearts to trust you to bring all the difference in the lives. May You be glorified in all ways in Jesus name I pray, Amen

This devotional was written by Bishop Joseph Koburu Mukiira of Maximum Victory and Joy Worship Centre Nairobi – Kenya. It is brought to you courtesy of Journey 2 Joy International Ministries Inc. USA