The Promise of His Presence

Studies have found that 85 percent of the things that we worry about never happen. But what about the other 15 percent? What about the fear or worry that actually does happen? In fact, not only does it happen, but something even worse than you were considering happens. What then?

Then the Lord will be with you in your time of difficulty. God has not promised that we will live in a pain-free world. He told us that in this world we will have tribulation.

In 2008, our son Christopher left us and went to Heaven. You never get over this. I remember talking to a couple who have been married ten years longer than Cathe and I have, and they lost their son more than 30 years ago. They told me that you never get over it, because you don’t expect your children to die before you. It’s out of the natural order.

It’s frightening to talk about, but we need to face facts. Loved ones will die. Hardship will come into our lives. Some people live relatively pain-free lives, but the rest of us don’t. We live in the land of the dying, but we’re headed to the land of the living.

Yes, death will come. But we have this promise from Jesus: “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave” (Revelation 1:17–18 NLT).

I’m so glad that He holds the keys. If I had the keys, they would’ve been lost for years now. I lose every set of keys, all the time. But Jesus never loses the keys. He is saying, “Don’t be afraid. I’ll be there for you.”