By Daniel

Read: Leviticus 27:14-Numbers 1:54, Mark 11:1-26, Psalm 46:1-11, Proverbs 10:23

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.
So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea.
Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!
Psalm 46:1-3

Relate:
There are often hard times in people’s lives, including every one of us. However, when tragedies happen, God is always behind the whole thing and watching it. He is still in control of everything. It reminds me of a trip to Inner Mongolia that I took last year with some church members. On the last day of our trip, we went to a local cultural festival. After lunch, I got separated from everybody else and was in the left wing of the main auditorium watching wrestling. I stayed there from 1 to 4 until I saw my mom at the bottom of the stands calling me over. What I didn’t know was that they already looked for me for hours. There was no wifi signal in the whole festival area, and I didn’t have a local phone number. Therefore, they couldn’t contact me by phone. My Dad and an uncle from our church searched for me all over the festival area. They even went to the parking space, which was very far away from the main area for events. When my mom found me, the uncle was right in the parking space. We called him to drive the car to the nearest exit to pick us up. 

“And we know that God causes everything to work together…” was the verse mentioned by the Uncle when we got in his car (Romans 8:28). This was also the verse that I related to when I read Psalm 46:1-3. Apparently, my parents and church members searching for me for 2 hours in such a huge festival was tormenting them even though it turned out that I was right next to them–they were in the center of the main stadium. However, we can see how this thing benefited us. There was an old lady among us, and we didn’t have to walk back to the parking area. God was definitely among us when all these happened. He made it so that we didn’t have to walk back to the parking area, even though it meant that they had searched for me for hours. 

React:
For any tragic events that happen in the future, I will always remember that God is always there with us, no matter what we are going through. We shouldn’t be fearing and lamenting when bad things happen to us. Instead, we should think about how God could work through these events that happened to us, since we know that “God causes everything to work together” (Romans 8:28). This also makes us optimistic in most situations, which is beneficial to us, as it is said in the Bible, “A joyful heart is good medicine ” (Proverbs 17:22).

Respond:

Dear God,
I know that you are always with us, no matter what we are going through. Please give me strength and remind me that you are the refuge, and in you, I shall not fear and worry. Also remind me that you always make everything work together no matter how bad the situation is, for you are the Almighty God, and you are with us.
Amen.