– Scripture:

              Look Again, Harder This Time

Watch for this—a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son; They will name him Immanuel (Hebrew for “God is with us”).

                         Matthew 1:23 MSG

– Reflection:

We men often feel alone. Even surrounded by family, friends, and work colleagues, we can still feel very much alone. These feelings—not of loneliness, but alone-ness—are most acute, of course, in times of stress, struggle, or suffering. You see, it’s when we’re most in need of help and companionship that we’re most apt to be convinced that no one’s going to help or no one’s going to understand . . . maybe not even God. Right? In those dark moments, it can feel like God’s just not there or has turned away. In one of his dark moments, King David cried out: “I am cut off from your sight.” I’m not sure about how women felt in those times, speaking of what I know, so this one was mainly for guys this morning.

Where do we go from here?

God is always there in every moment, bright and dark. “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” God doesn’t abandon us in dark moments, even when our sin causes the darkness. So we must learn to see him, even in those moments. One great way to learn is to look backward, at dark moments from our pasts, moments when we felt alone, and look for him again, a bit harder this time.

Our Prayer for Today

Father, thank you for always being there for us, no matter the situation. We must remember that even in the dark times filled with sin, now or even in our past if we had only called on you, we would have been much better off. It is great to know now that you have always been there. Amen.