Big God DevotionalSample

Foes & Fears

With foes on my left And fears on my right

They think that I’m all by myself in this fight

But they do not know

The infinite size

Of the God who’s by my side

I tend to write joyful songs about the most painful moments of my life. I do that because it’s joy, grounded in the truth of who God is, that’s carried me through those moments. I remember a season when I felt cornered by hurt, loneliness, and heaviness. I desperately needed God to rescue me. The enemy’s goal was to try to convince me that I was alone, and if he could convince me that I was alone, he could then lead me toward hopelessness. If he could lead me toward hopelessness, he could lead me toward handing over my faith, but he wasn’t worthy of that! I knew I had a choice to make.

Pain, hurt, and disappointment will confront your beliefs about God, and that’s exactly what that season did for me. Is He the God that split the sea, as I so often sang about? Is He the God that raised Himself from the grave, as I have confessed and believed in my heart? Is He the creator of the heavens and the earth? Is He the God that I had seen at work in my life since I was a young girl? If so, then surely, He’d come to rescue me. I came to a place of surrender. If God was allowing this season to take place, there’s no way He’d leave me to fend for myself. He was there the entire time. I just needed to see Him in the way He was revealing Himself, not the way I wanted Him to reveal Himself.

The Lord told Israel not to be afraid or discouraged because the battle wasn’t theirs, it was His. (2 Chronicles 20:15) I believe with all of my heart this is still true for us today.

God is with you, brothers and sisters. He is for you, fighting for you because you are His. (Exodus 14:14) He is bigger than your disappointments and your hurt, working through and with all of it for His glory. You can have joy standing in this truth!