“Trouble is a very real part of every person’s life.” But not only is God faithful in the midst of trouble, He also sustains us through it.
That was the encouragement Ed Litton, pastor of Redemption Church in Mobile, gave to those gathered Nov. 13 for session two of the 2023 Alabama Baptist Pastors Conference at Taylor Road Baptist Church in Montgomery.
Speaking on the “Sustaining Faithfulness of God,” Litton said the work of God is “never an easy life.”
“Second Timothy 2:3 says, ‘Share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus,'” he noted. “A soldier expects hardships. Sailors expect rough seas.”
“The question is not will we have trouble? The question is will we seek God as our refuge and strength?”
Litton related the story from 2 Kings of Hezekiah humbling himself before God and crying out for deliverance under threat of a military assault from Sennacherib and his great army.
“They are serious before God,” and God answers their prayers — 185,000 Assyrian soldiers struck dead by one angel of the Lord, Litton noted.
“I don’t know what you’re going through. I don’t know what you’re facing. But you serve a mighty God who is sustaining you in His faithfulness,” he said.
“We are living in desperate times, but here’s the message: When trouble rocks your world, God always provides for His children.”
Speaking on Psalm 46, which many believe was written “in the context of that amazing event,” Litton invited those gathered to pray through “anxious hearts and minds … that God will sustain you in His faithfulness.”
‘He has not abandoned you’
Litton offered three points based on the psalm:
1. Because of our sustaining, faithful God, we will not be afraid (vv. 1–3). “He is in the trouble with you,” Litton said. “He has not abandoned you to your trouble even though you may feel like it.”
2. Because of our sustaining, faithful God we will not be moved (vv. 4–7). “There is a stream inside of you called the Holy Spirit of God, and the whole mission of my ministry and yours is to listen to Him, to obey Him. If a committee says don’t, but He says do, do what He says. … There’s a God who promises He will not be unfaithful to you, and He will sustain you through any battle.”
3. Because of our sustaining, faithful God, we will be sustained into faithfulness (vv. 8–11). “Even when we’re called foolish, stand firm in the Lord. … Pray like you’ve never prayed. Call your church to prayer. Call your people to prayer. Ask God to move in power again. Because it’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s about our faithful God.”
“What is the problem? What is the mountain too high? What is the difficulty? What is the lack or the deprivation in your ministry, in your life?” he asked. “Lay it out before God. … Take your anxious thoughts and put them down on paper. Lay them before Him and get on your face before God.
“When you’re hurting, when you’re afraid … be still and know (v. 10). … Surrender to His will.”
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