--GOD'S PRESENCE WHEN WE GRIEVE
--By: Greg Laurie

-'Trusting God's promises in the wake of the Newtown shootings.'

--JUST DAYS BEFORE Christmas, in Newtown, Conn., parents bundled up their children for another day of school. There was shopping to be done and errands to run before they had to pick up their children later that afternoon.

But at 9:30a.m., the worst imaginable scenario took place. A young man walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School and began shooting. When the horror finally stopped, 20 children and six adults had been shot and killed at the school--12 little girls and 8 little boys had their lives cut short.

Unimaginable heartlessness and unspeakable wickedness.

I beleive all of these children are in Heaven right now, resting in the arms of Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew 19:14: "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these" (NIV).

Tragedies have wracked this planet since Adam and Eve were pushed out of the Garden of Eden, and they will continue until Jesus Christ returns to earth to set up His rule of righteousness. We will continue to experience pain, grief, sickness, and the death of loved ones. It's depresseing but true.

When we're younger, we don't necessarily understand this. As we get older, however, we typically experience the death of our grandparents. Time passes, and our parents die. As we continue to age, we know that day will eventually come for us, too, and our children will bury us.

AS hard as those realities might be, the unexpected deaths are even more difficult. None of us ever wants to bury our children. When this happens, our world seems to crash down around us, and we cry aloud to God.

I know from personal experience that the pain of losing a child is a fate worse than death for a parent. July 24, 2008, was the hardest day of my life. That was the day our first-born son, Christopher, died in a traffic accident on his way to work at 9:05 in the morning. He was 33 years old.

When you have a loved one die, especially a child, all of those times that used to be happy suddenly become sad--birthdays, anniversaries, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Instead of enjoying them, your mission becomes getting through them.

But here's the beauty of the birth of Jesus Christ. "Immanuel, God with us" is not just a message for Christmas. His presence can be enjoyed and relied upon every day of the year.

So, no matter how dark the day can seem, no matter how heavy the burden can become, no matter how lonely you may feel, God is always there. For you. For me.

Let me say something that might surprise you. Jesus Christ was the loneliest man who ever lived. You say, "What?" It's true. Isaiah 53 says that He was "despised and rejected by men" and He was a "Man of sorrows and acquanited with grief." Jesus was betrayed by one of His closest friends and was abandoned by His own disciples. And God Himself turned His back on Jesus as He hung on Calvary and bore the sin of the world, causing Him to say, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

Therefore, when you talk about loneliness, you have a God who knows what you're going through, and He is there for you. He has promised to never leave you or forsake you.

One of the most remarkable teachings in all of the Bible is that when a person believes in Jesus, God takes up residence in his or her heart. That's not true of any other belief system or religion--that God comes and lives inside of us. Jesus said in John 14:23: "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him and We will come to him and make Our home with him" (NKJV).

Remember, Jesus is always there, Immanuel. Lean on Him and He will bring His comfort to you as you trust in Him.~~