God’s presence and promised help as I suffer

Heavenly Father, 

You encouraged Your people to be strong, without fear or dread, before they ventured into already-known hardship. Yes, they were entering Your promised land, but not without “many dangers, toils, and snares.” How could they head into new adventures with courage? 

Your promise came true, of course.¹

As I face sure suffering in this world, You continue to promise Your abiding presence, an already-true reality. Help me when I feel thirsty, not “feeling” Your presence.

O Thou in whose pre­sence my soul takes de­light,
On whom in af­flict­ion I call,
My com­fort by day, and my song in the night,
My hope, my sal­va­tion, my all.

(“O Thou, in whose presence,” Swain, J., 1791)

God’s presence in His promise of Jesus Christ

“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants” (Is. 44:3 ESV, emphasis added). 

The offspring You were describing, years before He came? 

It’s Jesus!

So, as His follower, Jesus Christ is my poured-out blessing as I suffer, my continual living water, whose blood of the new covenant promise was poured out for me. 

“This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God” (Mk. 14:24-25 CSB).

Dear Shep­herd, I hear and will fol­low Thy call;
I know the sweet sound of Thy voice.
Restore and de­fend me, for Thou art my all,
And in Thee I will ev­er re­joice.

God’s presence in His promise of the Holy Spirit

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” He said this about the Spirit (Jn. 7:37-38 CSB, emphasis added).

Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit as my Helper.

“The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (Jn. 14:26 ESV, emphasis added).

Your promise came true in Acts 2.

Oh Lord, Your Word’s promises always come true!

So now, You’ve established, anointed, and sealed me and every true believer with the gift of Your indwelling Spirit.²  Whether I “feel” Your presence or not, as Your beloved child, He is within me, every moment of this suffering, as the guarantee of my heavenly inheritance.³ 

This is all Your glorious gift of unending grace and perfect love for me!

Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment (2 Cor. 5:5 CSB).

He looks, and ten thou­sands of an­gels re­joice,
And my­ri­ads wait for His word;
He speaks, and eter­ni­ty, filled with His voice,
Re-echoes the praise of her Lord.

Singing praise to You, my living hope and my Helper

Jesus, You knew exactly what You were about to suffer. It was going to be the opposite of God’s Deuteronomy 31:8 promise to Your people, noted above.

You were indeed forsaken on the cross, totally abandoned by our Father, fully bearing this horrific punishment for all my sin and taking it away from me.

And yet, You sang praise to our Father, just as it was about to happen. 

Sinclair Ferguson teaches us, “We know what it probably was because Passover was one of those occasions when the same praise was sung year after year. It was called the Hallel (like the word hallelujah), from the first lines of Psalm 113:

Praise the LORD!
Praise, O servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD!

Blessed be the name of the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore!
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the LORD is to be praised!” (Ps. 113:1-3 ESV).

Oh Lord, in the waterfalls of Your always-present love and grace, please give to me and my suffering sisters in Christ songs of praise to sing to You this week. Because, into any suffering the week brings, with any fork-roads or events requiring new courage or fresh hope, You are indeed continually present within us by Your Spirit.

We may not “feel” Your presence, but You promise that You are with us!

Help us to sing to You, just as Jesus did. In the singing itself, infuse hope into our hurts and fears. By Your Spirit illuminating Your Word’s teaching, counsel and guide us through all the thirsty moments, for this is Your sure promise and our absolute hope:

We praise, adore, and exalt You, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

Material adapted from Praying God’s Promises Into Suffering: A Devotional Bible Study Prayer Journal, Lauri A. Hogle, © 2023

A playlist of God’s promises and praises, in God’s presence

I’m anticipating an intense week of appointments, with new layers of medical needs. I’m freshly clinging to God’s help through His presence and promises.

Thirsting. Again.

So, this week’s playlist gift is for us to praise Him as we cling to His promise to be with us, many of the songs singing Scripture itself, just as Jesus did. In our thirst, as we approach hard things ahead…we sing in His presence, with His promised help. I’ll sing the songs as the Holy Spirit brings them to mind all week!

If it might bless you because you’re walking through suffering too, sign up below, and the playlist will come to your email with my love and prayers alongside you. Or maybe the other resources of our ministry might help?

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1. Exodus 40:34-38; Deuteronomy 31:6-8  ↩︎
2. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22  ↩︎
3. Galatians 4:6-7 ↩︎