God gave me a word today, and the question was simple: “Are you still down?” And my answer was, “Yes, Lord. I’m still down.”
That might sound like a strange way to put it, but I knew exactly what He was showing me. A lot of people are down with God when everything is going good. We’re down when the prayers are being answered, when the money is right, when the relationships are working, when everybody loves us, and when life seems to be moving in the direction we want it to move. But what happens when things get bad?
Are you still down when you lose something? Are you still down when somebody walks away from you? Are you still down when you prayed for something and the situation still didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to? Are you still down when following God costs you something?
I’ve lost a lot of things in my life, and after everything I have experienced, I can still look at God and say, “I’m still down.” Because somewhere along the way, I had to understand that following Christ was never supposed to mean that I would never experience pain. Knowing God doesn’t mean everybody is going to stay. It doesn’t mean every relationship is going to work. It doesn’t mean people aren’t going to betray you, disappoint you, misunderstand you, or hurt you.
People will bail when things get uncomfortable. Friends can leave. Family can change on you. Relationships can fall apart when they hit a rough patch. Some people can tell you they love you today and act like they never knew you tomorrow. But God is different. He says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” That means when everybody else decides they are no longer down for the journey, God is still there.
And something else came to me that really hit me: look at the wounds of Jesus. His wounds tell a story. Jesus loved people enough to be wounded by people. He experienced rejection, betrayal, humiliation, abandonment, and physical suffering, yet He remained committed to the Father’s will. Think about that. His wounds did not mean He had failed. His wounds showed just how far His obedience, sacrifice, and love went. That made me look at my own wounds differently.
Sometimes we think being hurt means we chose the wrong path. We think losing people means God must have left us. We think going through something painful means we need to turn around. But sometimes the real question isn’t, “Why am I going through this?” Sometimes the question is, “Are you still down?”
Can you still love God when you’re hurting? Can you still trust Him when you don’t understand Him? Can you still follow Him when people leave? Can you still say His name when you don’t have everything you used to have?
Can you still tell God, “I’m with You,” even when following Him doesn’t feel comfortable? Because that’s where I am. I’ve been hurt. I’ve lost things. I’ve watched people change. I’ve had moments when life didn’t look anything like I thought it would. But at the end of the day, I can still say, “Lord, I’m still down.”
Not because everything has been easy, but because I’ve learned who He is. Maybe that’s what some of us need to ask ourselves today. We say we’re Christians. We say we love God. We say we’re committed to Him. But is that commitment based on what He gives us, or is it based on who He is?
Because when the crowd disappears, when relationships change, when the blessings don’t look the way you expected, and when you’re standing there with some wounds of your own, that’s when the answer becomes personal.
Are you still down?
My answer is yes.
Lord, I’m still down.
