"Finding Hope When Life Hits Hard"

This has been one of the heaviest weeks I’ve ever faced. Last Sunday, one of my closest friends Johnny Simmons collapsed—CPR didn’t work. I spent the day with his wife in a small hospital room, his body there, with Kemper, Ryan, and a few other friends. It was the saddest room I’ve ever known. He was only 57. Johnny played drums on my music, we co-wrote songs, did ministry with me, talked to me almost daily for 30 years. Then Wednesday, I wrote the NewChurch newsletter about life’s unexpected troubles. Thursday, it hit my inbox—and God used my own words to help me. That’s not usually how that works—usually I just spot typos.

So, when I sat down to write today’s message, it seemed like God wanted me to slow down and go a little deeper.

I know this is a weird subject for our 10th anniversary—most pastors would go cheery, ‘Happy birthday, blow out the candles!’ But life doesn’t always cooperate with our party plans. A lot of us are reeling from hard hits right now—a loved one gone, a job vanished, a dream shattered. We feel overwhelmed, angry—abandoned. How are we supposed to keep going? Today’s for anyone needing hope when life hits hard.

In those moments when we feel overwhelmed, confused, maybe even abandoned. We feel sad and probably angry at the same time. We wonder how we’re going to keep moving forward.

This message is for all of us who need God to give us a little direction and hope.

God promises to be present when Life Hits Hard

Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

God isn’t distant in our pain—that's when He’s drawing us close to Him. But we have to be willing to trust Him, which can be tricky when we’re so disappointed in how things have turned out. I mean, when we’ve prayed. For healing, for direction, for things to get better, for dreams to be realized. But it doesn’t go the way we want. And we’re crushed. 

I was talking with a friend earlier this week and said, “I’m currently in full-blown anger mode about this right now. Hulk Mode.” My friend said, “What are you wanting to smash?” I’m like, “HULK SMASH GOD!” But, you know, God quietly smashes Hulk instead.”

I have another friend who said when they lost their baby years ago that he stopped praying for a long time—he admitted it wasn’t the right response but it’s what he did. He said he kept going to church though. Held onto the patterns and rhythms of his faith that eventually helped get him out of the pit. 

God will speak the most clearly to us when we are brokenhearted and crushed in spirit but we do need to listen. To Him. Not to ourselves. Not to our heart. Our help comes from the Lord, from outside us.

Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

He is our safe place, even when everything feels uncertain. He is our mighty fortress. All the darkness in the world scatters in the presence of His light. But we have to turn to Him instead of crawling inside ourselves and hiding in the dark.

There have been long seasons of my life where my prayers had angry, bitter words—words said in prayer that I’d have to repent for saying later. It’s okay to express our emotions to God. He’s a rock, He can take it. He can take our anger and our hurt. He wants us to come to Him even when we’re not at our best.

In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…”

Jesus invites you to bring your exhaustion—your grief, your stress, your fears, your anger—all the things that are weighing you down. All those things wrapped around your neck, and exchange it for His yoke. His yoke is easy. His yoke is rest. But it’s still a yoke, we won’t naturally want to put it on. God promises to be present when life is hard but when life is hard, we tend to blame Him for it and run away from Him. But that’s a mistake because God is the only One who has power over the chaos.

God’s Power Over the Chaos

In John 16:33 Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Jesus never said following Him would be easy, that it’s some kind of shortcut around suffering. He said the opposite. He said in this world you will have trouble. Following Jesus is going to take you through trouble. It’s a promise. But it’s the only way through trouble! He will lead you all the way through it. Keep following. Keep trusting. He assures us that He has already won the ultimate victory and is taking us somewhere good.

In Isaiah 41:10 God gives this amazing promise for when we are going through it, He said,

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

No matter what you’re going through, you’re not facing it alone. Lean on Him for strength. Trust Him for help. He promises to hold you up. Because of Jesus you are made righteous, you are in a right relationship with God, and His strength will keep you safe and make things good for you.

You might not see it in the moment—that’s okay—that’s what faith is for—but God is still using all these scary things for your good.

God’s Promise in the Uncertainty

Romans 8:28 says,

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Even when we can’t see it, God is at work in ways beyond our understanding. In all things. Good things. Bad things. Disappointing things. 

For those who love Him. What does it mean to love God? It means to be patient with Him. Have you ever thought about being patient with God? It means to trust Him. To be thankful for His love and kindness and mercy and grace. It means to remember the cross and the resurrection and the promise of an abundant life now and eternal life later. It means when life hits hard that we hold onto our faith, even when we absolutely don’t feel like it—we continue in the rhythms that build our faith instead of neglecting them—we continue to pray (even in tears and anger), we continue to worship (going to church and being with our Christian friends, letting them know what’s going on), we stay in God’s word so He can speak to us. This is what loving God looks like. Faith and faithfulness. So, for those of us who love God like that—He promises even though life is this long, winding, rollercoaster, filled with dark tunnels and jump scares—it’s all working together to create our redemption story. It’s making us who we are in Christ. It’s our sanctification. It’s how God is making us who He wants us to be. Someday we’ll look back on all these things and see how they all led us to exactly where He was taking us. In other words, what God uses for good is not always going to look good to us in the moment. God has a much better perspective to see the big picture.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 says,

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”

What we’re going through now isn’t the final word—God’s promises the truth is far beyond what we can see in this life. He calls the worst pains we will ever experience “light and momentary afflictions.” We’d be tempted to be offended if it wasn’t God who said it. But God isn’t minimising our pain, He just sees it in the proper perspective. Like when a little kid drops their ice cream cone and thinks it’s the end of the world—I mean, it feels like it—but God, our loving Father knows He can just get us a new one. And if it is the end of the world, He can give us a new one of those, too.

These verses are powerful promises but they don’t erase the pain, and they don’t make light of it either. God knows our tears. These verses show that He understands, and they point us to a God who is present, victorious, and purposeful, even when we don’t understand what’s happening or how any of it makes sense. 

We Make it Worse

But when life blindsides us, we usually react in ways that don’t help. We panic and try to take control instead of trusting God.  We isolate ourselves, shutting out the people who care about us. We doubt God’s goodness and blame Him. We make it worse.

There’s a Leonard Cohen song that I’m kinda obsessed with. It’s from his last album, he knew he was dying when he wrote and recorded it. It’s called “You Want it Darker”—pretty much about blaming God for all the misery in the world. Well, kind of blaming Him—but also acknowledging that we humans make it worse.

He sings:

“Magnified, sanctified
Be the holy name
Vilified, crucified
In the human frame
A million candles burning
For the help that never came
You want it darker
We kill the flame”

That’s dark. And if Cohen got the last word, it would be devastating. I’ve been sitting in that darkness a lot this week—stuck where the candles are burning, but the help feels far away. I’ve caught myself blaming God for my friend’s death, questioning why He didn’t rescue him. I’ve wondered if God’s even paying attention. It’s easy to kill the flame—to let cynicism or despair take over. But here’s the thing: God doesn’t leave us there. Leonard Cohen doesn’t get the last word, Jesus does. Jesus is the light the darkness can’t overcome. Cohen’s song stops short of hope, but our story doesn’t. God’s not the one wanting it darker—He’s the one who steps into the broken world, shining a light we can’t extinguish.

When life blindsides us, we have two choices: run toward God, or run away. And if we’re honest, we usually run away. We panic, isolate, blame. We kill the flame instead of looking for the light.

Jesus Makes it Better

But God didn’t just promise to be with us—He fulfilled that promise.

Jesus stepped into human pain, loss, and uncertainty. God the Son became a human man—The Light of the World stepped into darkness.

Look, If this whole “Jesus thing” is unfamiliar to you—if you haven’t really paid much attention to your need to trust Him for anything, or if it’s been a while, the basic idea is this: Jesus is the Son of God, who came to earth as a human to show us what God is like and to bridge the gap between us and God. He lived a perfect life, died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins, and rose again, defeating death. Because of what He's done, you can have a relationship with God and experience His love, forgiveness, and hope, even in the midst of your pain. He personally knows pain. He suffered the ultimate injustice—being falsely accused, abandoned, and put to death. He took on all of your fear, pain, and sin on the cross so you would never have to face those ultimate dark things. Then, He rose again, proving that nothing—not even death—is beyond God’s power to turn into something beautiful and meaningful.

Because of Jesus:

Death isn’t the end—your loved ones in Christ are with Him and will rise again in glory, Johnny is with Jesus, one day you and me will be, too. Loss isn’t final—God is restoring everything broken in this world. And nothing we face can separate us from God’s love.

Romans 8:38-39 says, “Neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So, if you feel like life has knocked the wind out of you, know that Jesus has been there, too. And He’s also right here with you now. If you don’t know Him yet, He’s inviting you to trust Him starting today—because He’s the only foundation that won’t be shaken when life takes an unexpected turn. Because of Jesus, we can have a relationship with God and experience His love, forgiveness, and hope, even in the midst of our pain.

Respond in a Good Way

So, whatever it is, bring it to Jesus. Don’t keep your grief, fear, or frustration bottled up—pray it out, cry it out, be honest with Him. He can handle it. Don’t go silent. Don’t try to hide. Not from God and not from other people in your life.

And lean on others. You weren’t meant to go through this alone—God has placed people in your life to walk with you. Tears come out of our eyes for a reason, we’re supposed to be looking into someone else’s eyes when we cry. It is not good for you to be alone.

Hold onto His promises. Go back through this message again. Pick one of the Scriptures I mentioned and carry it with you this week. Let it remind you that God is at work, even when you don’t see it. And… 

Be there for someone else. Check in on a friend who’s struggling. Listen, encourage, and pray with them. I’ve had a few people call me every day this week to check on me—see whether I’m in Hulk smash mode or just sad. And I really appreciated it. It meant a lot. I’ve also checked in on my friends, trying to be there for them. I didn’t know what to say, it doesn’t matter what I said, it matters that I tried.

Maybe this was a really hard week for you, too. Maybe not. If not, you know as well as I do that hard times are on their way. When life hits hard you need to remember, it’s not the end of your story. When you find yourself in a dark place, you need to look toward the light. Don’t blow out the candle. Hold onto your hope. God is not finished with your life, keep following Jesus and He promises it is going somewhere good.

Today NewChurch is 10 years old—ten little candles isn’t a lot of light—and this might not seem like a particularly appropriate sermon for such a landmark day. But I think it is. God has started something here that He’s going to see through, He’s not finished with us, this is going somewhere good. Be encouraged. Because when life hits hard, hold on—The One who carried us these ten years will carry us forward, turning every struggle into the church He has called us to be. AMEN