God in Tough Places

If you have had an experience of deep darkness, terror or despair, you may have experienced the miraculous intervention of God. His presence has come into your experience.

It was like you were a child terrified of the dark and then your mother came into the room and turned on the light. Your mother spoke words of comfort and reassurance, and suddenly the darkness was like a distant memory. Let us recall to our minds the times when God turned on the light.

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. Gen 1:3-4 (ESV)  

He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. Ps 107:20 (ESV)  

When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him,  
"Lord, my servant is lying paralysed at home, suffering terribly."  

And he said to him, "I will come and heal him."  
But the centurion replied, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. Mt 8:5-8 (ESV)  

A pastor’s wife was desperately ill. No prayer for healing made any difference. The pastor read aloud the 91st psalm every hour until she was completely healed.
 
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High  Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress;
   My God, in Him I will trust." Ps 91:1-2 (NKJV)

Corrie ten Boom spent terrible years in a Nazi concentration camp in WW2. She was released before the end of the war due to a clerical error. This apparently ordinary middle-aged single Dutch woman became one of the greatest preachers of the 20th century.

Her message to the world was simple but profound. There is no dark hole so deep, but that God is deeper still. She wrote a famous book about how God brought her through her terrible experiences. The title of the English edition is “The Hiding Place”.

You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble;
   You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Ps 32:7 (NKJV)  

To the Chief Musician. Set to 'Do Not Destroy.' A Michtam of David when he fled from Saul into the cave.
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!  For my soul trusts in You;    
   And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge,            
   Until these calamities have passed by.
 I will cry out to God Most High, To God who performs all things for me.
He shall send from heaven and save me;
He reproaches the one who would swallow me up.

  God shall send forth His mercy and His truth. Ps 57:1-3 (NKJV)  

When my first marriage broke up, I was a part-time single father. I was deeply distressed and intensely concerned for my baby daughter, who was 18 months old when her parents separated. I received powerful reassurance from this Bible text.        
 
He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.
Isa 40:11 (NKJV)