Welcome to today’s Daily Redemption — where we untangle the lie that God’s faithfulness means a pain-free life, and discover the deeper truth: He is faithful in the fire, not just from it.
Note: What we have here is Scripture, the blue/purple font in the image or the italics in the printed text (and lyrics when included and not otherwise noted) is written by Zeb of Virginia Beach Church and the other black text is AI generated.
Opening Worshipful Lyrics by Zeb of Virginia Beach Church
from his song “This is nothing sayeth the Lord”
I was distraught and stressed feeling very unblessed
I reached out to the Lord and He said “This is nothing.”
All my troubles and woe today and long ago
were weighing heavy on me and He reminded me “This is nothing”
This is nothing. This is nothing
He picked me up and reminded me
In his eternal love “this is nothing.”
You who are losing your hope stretched beyond your strength to cope
just heed the voice of God and know that this is nothing.
for you have strength unknown your body may catch a thousand stones
and in the final tally discover that this is nothing.
This is nothing sayeth my God nothing to He and He sustains me
He said envision My Face upon that cross
while the disciples thought that all was lost
but on my face in my last hour
you see God’s faith you see God’s power
then look upon the cross you bear and see
This is nothing.
Featured Scripture and Commentary:
Lamentations 3:22–23 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.
What do you mean God is faithful???
1 To whom must the creator of faith and everything else demonstrate faith?
Personally I always favored the word “steadfast”. God never had to tender burnt offerings nor any other. He’s in charge. We are faithful to him. Perhaps sometimes we are not. Certainly some of us never are. But God’s faithfulness is a steadfastness which is unchanged, unchanging, unchangeable and 100% solid from the Alpha to the Omega and spanning the distance as far as East is from the West. You won’t get a better guarantee while your feet trod upon “God’s green Earth”
2. “But what good is this faith? I have 4th stage ‘Lumbosis’!!! and it HUUUUUURRRRRTSSSS :(!”
Well let’s start with this… Jesus said in this world we will have troubles. And brother do we ever. Lifelong truth is a form of
faithfulness. You can count on it by every tear. We have troubles in this fallen world just as Jesus said. Sad and tragic consequence of being fallen beings in a fallen world ruled by a fallen angel and inheritors of the sin of Adam.
How does Jesus overcoming the world help us when we suffer? We may not always understand every word of every parable. But the better we understand His word the more it pans out to be true and that is part of how we grow in God. And the Word and the Truth of it and the reliability of it is our rock when the fierce waves are hitting the shore. That is a faith we can take to the bank long after there are no longer banks nor a need for such except maybe “The Bank Of Heaven” which is where we store our treasures if that is also where our heart is.
What exactly is the freedom that Jesus offers? Well there are many books on the many promises of God. Included amongst these are that He will never leave nor forsake us even until the end of the age. So what is the value of that when we are suffering our 4th stage Lumbosis or some other made-up ailment? It is the most valuable thing in the world and beyond.
Jesus said we would have trouble in the world but “BE OF GOOD CHEER” (some Christians believe that God wants us to suffer and feel afflicted as a burden of our faith and that we are walking with Jesus on the road to Calvary but Jesus said, in spite of this travail, be of good cheer) for He has overcome the world. Our faith doesn’t give us a “get out of jail (and suffering) free card”. It says that in the midst of the suffering, even In the furnace with the 3 brothers who had a 4th presence in there with them and walked out of the flames with nary a burn, Jesus provides us freedom within the suffering. We have
* Freedom from the mastery over us of our sin nature. The tyrant plummeted like one of those idol statues that the people take down after their oppressor has been dethroned. It still snaps at our ankles and worse but Victory is ours.
* Freedom, not from pain, but from fear of death, because the faithful amongst us know there will be “peace in the valley”.
*Freedom from having to do it all on our own when our Earth-bound efforts are often weak and futile compared to the smallest aid or intervention from a holy, sovereign God. Books of Hebrews and Romans are great repositories for one to deep dive into when one feels beset and needs reassurance that God is with us. Emmanuel.
So how valuable is it that we an suffer deeply and yet still be free? And that freedom is guaranteed, not by the “”full faith and credit of the US government” (impermanant, most such Republics only last 200 years. Our has hung on for 250 years now but is in grave peril daily. God has blessed America for sure but that can be revoked at any time and a country that passes laws state by state enabling infanticide is teetering on the precipice of judgement) but by the only One who cannot leave us and cannot fail us. That is the faithfulness of God. That is freedom worth having and that is faithfulness worth trusting. I pray you feel that faithfulness and give it your own more and more with each passing day.
Give praise to the Lord for he is good. His love and faithfulness endure forever. Amen
Scripture:
2 Corinthians 12:9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
Romans 8:38–39
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Homily:
We suffer. And we wonder: Where is God’s faithfulness now?
We’ve been sold a counterfeit: that faithfulness means protection from pain. But Scripture never promises that. It promises presence in pain. Faithfulness isn’t God keeping you out of the valley — it’s God walking through it with you (Psalm 23:4). It’s not the absence of suffering — it’s the refusal to abandon you within it.
Your suffering isn’t proof God forgot His promises. It’s the very place where His faithfulness gets real: sustaining you when you can’t sustain yourself, giving grace that’s sufficient precisely when strength fails (2 Cor 12:9), making a way through the flood rather than around it (Isaiah 43:2).
This isn’t trite comfort. It’s raw truth: God was faithful to Jesus in Gethsemane — not by removing the cup, but by holding Him through it. He was faithful at the cross — not by preventing death, but by redeeming it. Your pain isn’t the end of the story. It’s the ground where His faithfulness proves itself — not by sparing you, but by staying with you.
Hold fast. He hasn’t left. He hasn’t failed. He is faithful — even here.
Prayer:
Lord, my pain feels like proof You’ve forgotten me. Forgive my shallow view of faithfulness. Remind me: You were faithful to Jesus in Gethsemane — not by removing the cup, but by holding Him through it. Be that God for me now. Not the God who keeps me from fire — but the God who walks with me through it. Your presence is enough. Your promise stands. Even here. Even now. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
DR, FaithfulInFire, Lamentations3, SufferingAndGrace, DailyRedemption, GodWithUs, SufficientGrace
#DailyRedemption #FaithfulInFire #Lamentations3 #SufferingAndGrace #GodWithUs #SufficientGrace #BibleDevotional #HopeInPain
How do we trust God’s faithfulness when suffering hits? In this Daily Redemption reflection, untangle the lie that faithfulness means a pain-free life — and discover the deeper truth: God is faithful in the fire, not just from it. Rooted in Lamentations 3:22–23 and Isaiah 43:2, this piece offers raw hope for those walking through valleys today. Visit theholygospel.net for more devotionals and original worship music by Zeb of Virginia Beach Church. If this reminded you that God’s presence is His promise, share it with someone in the fire right now. Have a blessed day in the Lord
