You Are Not Alone
By Shawna Wright
Job
The Pain: “My days fly faster than a weaver’s shuttle. They end without hope. O God, remember that my life is but a breath, and I will never again feel happiness. You see me now, but not for long. You will look for me, but I will be gone. …“I cannot keep from speaking. I must express my anguish. My bitter soul must complain… I think, ‘My bed will comfort me, and sleep will ease my misery, but then you shatter me with dreams and terrify me with visions. I would rather be strangled—rather die than suffer like this. I hate my life and don’t want to go on living. Oh, leave me alone for my few remaining days. “What are people, that you should make so much of us, that you should think of us so often? For you examine us every morning and test us every moment. Why won’t you leave me alone, at least long enough for me to swallow! If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of all humanity?
Why make me your target? Am I a burden to you? Why not just forgive my sin and take away my guilt? For soon I will lie down in the dust and die. When you look for me, I will be gone.” Job 7:6-21
The Answer “Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind… Brace yourself, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?… Do you know how it’s dimensions were determined and who did the surveying? What supports it’s foundations, and who laid it’s corner stone?… Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the East? Have you ever told the daylight to spread to the ends of the earth… Have you…? Have you…? Have you…? Can you…? can you…?” Job 39
The Peace: “Then Job replied to the Lord: I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. You said, ‘Listen and I will speak!I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.’ I had only heard about you before,but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.” Job 42:1-6 “When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! “ Job 42:10 “So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning…” Job 42:12 Job lived 140 years after that… then he died, an old man who had lived a long, good life.” Job 42:16
Jeremiah
The Pain: “I curse the day I was born! May the day of my birth not be blessed. I curse the messenger who told my Father, `Good news- You have a son!`… Oh that I had died in my mother’s womb. That her body had been my grave! Why was I ever born…” – Jeremiah 20: 14,15,18
The Answer: “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 “I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything to hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:27
The Peace: “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7–8
Elijah
The Pain: “He sat under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. ‘I had enough Lord,’ he said.’ take my life. ” 1 Kings 19:4
The Answer: “But as he was sleeping an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” He looked around and saw some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “ Get up and eat some more…” 1 Kings 19:5&6 “Go out and stand before me on the mountain…” 1 Kings 20:11
The Peace: “After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.” 1 Kings 20:12-13
Hannah
The Pain: “Year after year it was the same—Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the Tabernacle. Each time, Hannah would be reduced to tears and would not even eat.” 1 Samuel 1:7
The Answer: “Eli said, “go in peace! May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him.”
1 Samuel 1:17
The Peace: “Oh, thank you, sir!” she exclaimed. Then she went back and began to eat again, and she was no longer sad.” 1 Samuel 1:18
David
The Pain: “My God, my God, Why have you forsaken me? Why do you remain so distant? Why do ignore my cries for help? Every day I call to you my God but you do not answer Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief.” Psalm 22:1-2 “I am losing all hope, I am paralysed with fear.” Psalm 143:4 “For you are God, my only safe haven. Why have you tossed me aside? Why must I wonder around in darkness…? Psalm 43:2 “For I am overwhelmed, and you alone know the way I should turn wherever I go my enemies have set traps for me. I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought. NO one will help me, no one cares a bit what happens to me.” Psalm 142:3-4 “Oh give back my joy again; you have broken me now let me rejoice. Don’t keep looking at my sins remove the stain of my quilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me again the joy of your salvation” Psalm 51:9-12
The Answer: “The Lord is close to the broken hearted; He rescues those who are crushed in spirit, The righteous face many troubles but the Lord rescues them from each and everyone” Psalm 34:18 &19 “The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will not fall for the Lord holds them by the hand.” Psalm 37: 23&24 “They will survive through hard time; even in famine they will have more than enough.” Psalm 37: 18 & 19 “Give your burdens to the Lord and He will take car of you, He will not permit the godly to slip and fall” Psalm 56:22 “When they walk through the Valley of weeping it will become a place of refreshing springs, where pools of blessing collect of the rains.” Psalm 84:6 “The Lord lifts the burdens of those bent beneath their loads.” Psalm 146:8
The Peace: “I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord. Psalm 40:1-3 “Praise the Lord; Praise God our Savior, for each day he carries us in His arms.” Psalm 68:19 “My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; He is mine forever.” Psalm 74:26 “Unless the Lord had helped me I would soon have died. I cried out I’m slipping and your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me. When doubts filled my mind Your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.” Psalm 94:17-19
Paul
The Pain: “We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die.
The Answer: But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.
The Peace: And He did rescue us from mortal danger, and He will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us.” 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Jesus
The Pain: “…My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Matthew 26:36 “Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!” Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.” When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open. So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again. Then he came to the disciples and said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But look—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!” Matthew 26:36-44 “…He prayed more fervently, and He was in such agony of spirit that His sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.” Luke 22:44-45 “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Matthew 27:45
The Answer: “Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened Him…” Luke 22:43
The Peace: “So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will understand that I I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me. And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him.” John 8: 28 & 29
