By Joseph Perry

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1

Did you know that God is always with you?

I was telling a friend who felt that he was all alone, after his wife had passed. He told me his children were already gone from his home, and they now lived across the country. He said, “Sir, I feel all alone. I have all of these responsibilities left for me to deal with, all by myself.”

Sometimes you can feel like you’re all by yourself. Sometimes when you’re dealing with the hard knocks in life, you feel like you are dealing with them alone. There are times when the weight of life can have you believe that you have to handle it without God.

The Psalmist declares that God is ever present. David understood he had God with him; even though he didn’t see Him, he knew that God was there.

The truth of the matter is, God is always with you. That means, He is present at all times, continually and constantly throughout all time. In our day of trouble, He promises to be a help to each of us. That means the God of the universe is always with you. If you need money to take care of your obligations, He will in some way be there to assist you. If you feel lonely, you can know that your Heavenly Father is with you.

Take Him at His word. When He tells you that He is with you, all you have to do is trust Him that He is in fact there.

Tell Him you know He’s there. You need to talk to God more about being happy and overjoyed to know He’s with you in all of your dealings. The more you draw closer to Him, the more He will draw closer to you.

Talk to others about His greatness. We need to tell others that God is great. We don’t need to be quiet about sharing God and talking about His goodness. No, we need to encourage those who we come in contact with that we serve a God who is ever present. Our testimony can and will be a counselor to someone else.

We need to tell people, just like I shared with the man who felt he was all alone, that God promised to never leave us nor forsake us. He promised to be with us even until the end of the world. We don’t have to fear, nor do we need to be afraid, because He is our light and our salvation. You know what, He’s the strength of our life. Our God is always there and watches over all that we do.

We serve a God who is very specific. And because He is always with you, He always knows exactly what you need and is always ready to supply you with what you need.

The hymn writer pens, “Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see. All I’ve ever needed Thou hands have provided, great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me.”

Relax, The Lord is with you!

The Rev. Joseph A. Perry is pastor of St. Mark AME Zion Church. Contact him at josephp134@gmail.com.