Today is the final day of the LCMS Youth Gathering “In All Things.” It wraps up with a morning worship service in Minute Maid Park, and then everyone starts making their way home. Well, almost everyone. Some of the Planners will be here another day answering the help line, packing up things and all the other stuff that goes with putting on an event this size.

There have been so many Christ-centered presentations and moments that the participants were a part of and are now taking home with them. They have been reminded that God is IN ALL THINGS, including the brokenness and hurts and depression and hard times they will go through. It is a message we all need to hear over and over again, and I’ll probably be sharing some of what I heard in the days and weeks ahead.

Last night I was listening to one of the speakers, I was reminded of Psalm 31.

Psalm 31:9–16 Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief. My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak. Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors; I am a dread to my friends— those who see me on the street flee from me. I am forgotten by them as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery. For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side; they conspire against me and plot to take my life. But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me. Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.

The Psalmist speaks of things that are a reality in our lives: distress, sorrow, grief, anguish, affliction and terror. Just because you have faith in Jesus, you are not exempt from these things. In spite of all this, the Psalmist speaks words of trust and confidence. “My times are in your hands.” No matter what is going on in your life, God is in control and God is with you. In all things, good and bad, God is in control and He is with you.

You have this assurance because He speaks it over and over in His Word. And in His Word made flesh.  Jesus came to be one of us to take our place in punishment, earn our forgiveness, and open heaven for us. He did that by dying on a cross and rising again in victory on the the Third Day.

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

God not only is with us IN ALL THINGS, but through Jesus He gives us ALL THINGS we need.

Let that thought go with you in everything you do today.