God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
 though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging (Psalm 46: 1-4 NIV).

Our pastor read this to us in the hospital room. Jim in the bed, me in the chair beside the bed. The verses are familiar to me and they are a comfort when times are difficult. And the past two weeks have been rough. Jim has been battling extreme pain–this is a man who doesn’t complain and once in awhile takes one ibuprofen for an ache or pain. Now it is different. He isn’t complaining so much as saying how painful his back is. The medical community was sympathetic to his woes, but couldn’t seem to do more than prescribe another type of medication that might help relieve the pain.

Nothing seemed to help. Jim was scheduled for back surgery next week, but instead we went to the emergency room for help–Jim couldn’t take the pain any longer. After nine days of pain on a scale of one to ten, his level hummed along at about an eight. After more tests and another MRI, they discovered an infection. They are dealing with this and now we wait to see if antibiotics will do their work. There will be no surgery and indeed, had there been, the infection could have spread.

It’s a familiar place, sitting next to a bed, waiting for pain to go away in a loved one’s body. I don’t like to watch anyone suffer, yet I am embraced by the sense the God of refuge and strength is there, ever present. 

So now we wait. Wait for the infection to be resolved. For less pain.

In the pain and storm though, there is refuge. This isn’t a pollyanish statement, but a true fact. I am at peace. And so is Jim. Our God is ever-present. He is there.

I heard this statement recently and it resonated with me. Perhaps it does with you, too:

The faith that cannot be tested is a faith that cannot be trusted~Greg Laurie

We will wait and see what is next. But we know He is there. He’s there for you, too. In whatever you are facing.

I like what I read today in an old devotional, Streams in the Desert. I’ll quote it to encourage myself as well as for whomever needs these words today:

Difficulties and obstacles are God’s challenges to our faith. When we are confronted with hindrances that block our path of service, we are to recognize them as vessels for faith and then to fill them with the fullness and complete sufficiency of Jesus…Sometimes we may have to wait and realize that “perseverance must finish its work” (James 1:4). But ultimately we will find…the Lord Himself waiting to bestow a double blessing on us for our time of testing (A.B. Simpson).

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