This past Saturday I had the pleasure of co-facilitating Bible Study with two amazing godly women at the McHenry County Jail. Besides the three of us, there were 24 female inmates in the room.

Grace spoke plainly yet eloquently of the importance of trusting in the sovereignty of God no matter what situation we find ourselves in. It doesn’t matter if we are:

• incarcerated
• in the hospital
• handicapped
• in any kind of “bad relationship”
• completely happy with our life

God is ultimately in control of the universe and everything that happens in our lives.

Consider passages like:

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands. — Psalm 19:1

All the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: “What have you done?” – Daniel 4:35

Or the book of Job:

By all accounts, Job was a righteous man, but God allowed him to be tested by Satan. Through this time of testing, Job was chastised by his best friends, ridiculed by his wife and suffered unimaginable loss, illness, and pain. Other than Jesus Christ himself, I believe that Job suffered more than anyone who has ever or will ever live on this earth, and yet he did not falter in his faith and remained strong through it all. His story is the epitome of how we should all handle the challenging times in our lives.

God understands our suffering.

Isaiah 53 gives us a clear picture of what Christ went through on the cross. This sinless man took on the pain, suffering, and punishment for the sins of every man, woman, and child that will ever live on this earth. In doing so he had to experience complete and utter separation from God because God cannot exist where there is evil. Our Heavenly Father had to watch his one and only Son die the most horrible death imaginable, in order for us to be saved and have the privilege of spending eternity with Him.

What should we do in the midst of suffering?

We must trust in God & His Sovereignty. We do this by earnest prayer, reading his Word regularly, believing in His promises and most importantly by whole-heartedly submitting to whatever he is calling you to do. I am not just talking about the little stuff that is easy to do but the hard things that don’t make any sense in human terms. When we do that the sovereignty of God truly shows through.

God is our helper in ALL circumstances.

Grace’s message along with the music that we shared tied in perfectly to carry the message home to the ladies. I know that God ordained every moment of that 60 minutes we spent in that small gymnasium, He knew who needed to hear the words of Grace’s prepared message as well as the personal stories that each of us shared about God’s provision/ sovereignty in our lives and the lives of our loved ones.

When God brings the faces of those ladies to mind, I stop what I am doing and pray for them. It doesn’t cost me anything, but a little bit of time, to pray; however it could mean EVERYTHING to the person who I am praying for.

YES GOD IS SOVEREIGN – EVERYWHERE & ALL THE TIME!