All You Need to Remember...


The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Psalm 9:9

The other day I was talking to an old friend, who is really going through it, and all at once. The list of issues this friend is struggling with is legion; a broken marriage, a sick kid, and major financial adversity just to name a few of the more pressing problems. To be honest, I really didn’t know what to say to comfort my friend, the verse that came to mind was Romans 8:28~ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

 Romans 8:28 is probably the most oft quoted verse in the Bible.  Anywhere in the world where there is bad news of any kind there is somebody reminding somebody else that “all things work together for the good.” Romans 8:28 is a true statement: I know from experience that God works in situations and takes the most horrible tragedies and, over the course of time, brings good out of them.

 Notice that I did not say that all things are good or that bad situations cease to be bad given enough time. I am simply saying that for the believer (one who was called and has responded to the call in faith) God brings good out of even the most devastatingly bad circumstances. (More about that in my next post)

All that truth aside, when I am hurting the last thing I want to hear is that “someday, in some way, God will bring good out of this.” In fact, that is just the sort of statement that has the power to make me crazy; and it seems kind of mean to say something that I know would make me crazy to someone else who is suffering.

 As I sorted all this out in my mind my first inclination was to give you five things to remember in a crisis; I like lists of five. (In fact, that was my original title for this post.)  But as I mulled over this topic I realized that there are really only two truths we need to focus on as we respond to a crisis or to those who are in a crisis.  

First, IT:  whatever IT is will not last forever; IT may feel like it’s going to go on forever but it won’t. The Psalmist gives us this truth in the form of a prayer of thanksgiving …

Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.

For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living~ Psalm 116-7-9

 God in His mercy only allows tragedy or grief to continue for a season. Pain subsides and life goes on, joy replaces sorrow as we move into new seasons of life. One of the most reassuring things anyone has ever said to me was when a dear friend PROMISED me while I was going through an intense period of grieving that I would not feel horrible forever, she was right and I have found that that promise is reassuring to anyone who is hurting.

The second truth we need to remember is that God sees our pain, hears our cry, and cares deeply about our situation.


For He has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden His face from him (or her) but has listened to his cry for help~ Psalm 22:24


The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering”~ Exodus 3:7

Just as God took note of the suffering of the Israelites under the oppression of the Egyptian slave masters, He takes note of our suffering as well—not in a scholarly, clinical sort of way but as an interested party whose ultimate (not always immediate) plan is to bring about change and healing.  

Three times in the book of Genesis the Scripture says that God remembered someone (Noah, Genesis 8:1, Abraham, Genesis 19:29 and Rachel, Genesis 30:22). When God remembers someone it does not mean that He previously forgot or misplaced that person.

According to Strong’s, the word used for remember in the Hebrew is zakar and one of the connotations of the word is to take an intense, personal interest in a person or situation. It’s important to note that each of those people was in a serious crisis at the time God took an interest in their suffering: Noah was trapped on a floating zoo, Abraham was fleeing the judgment of Sodom with his mess of a nephew, and Rachel was experiencing the heartbreak of infertility while her sister and rival for her husbands affection kept having babies. God remembered them as He remembers all of us when we suffer.

If I had that conversation with my friend to do over again I would have said something like this: “God has not forgotten you. He loves you; He takes an intense interest in you and your situation.” I would also remind my friend of a passage in the book of Isaiah where the people of Jerusalem where convinced that God had forgotten them, He assured the people that a Mother would forget a child she was still nursing before He would forget them and then God gave them the promise that I believe still applies to believers today that He has written each of our names on His hand~ Isaiah 49:15-16