This is part 7 of "Make It Make Sense," our series at Fusion Christian Church where we ask difficult questions and look for biblical answers. In this week's message, Pastor Matt closes out this series by teaching about God's presence in times of need.

He is the God of both the mountaintop and the valley.

There are few stories which demonstrate the ups and downs of life as clearly as that of Joseph. He was the favorite son of Israel, but this created jealousy among his brothers, who sold him into slavery. When Joseph arrived as a slave in Egypt, he earned favor in his master's house through his diligence and faithfulness. Unfortunately, he also earned the favor of his master's wife, who attempted to seduce Joseph. When Joseph rejected her advances, the spurned woman falsely accused him and had him thrown into prison. Finally, God provided a way out for Joseph by giving him an opportunity to interpret dreams for the Pharaoh of Egypt. Pharaoh raised Joseph to second in command over all Egypt.

God is always faithful to his promises.

Throughout all of this, Joseph recognized that God had been there with him. Joseph knew that God had orchestrated events to put Joseph in a place where he could eventually save his family and all of Egypt. Scripture is filled with promises from God, and filled further with examples of God keeping those promises. God has never once broken a promise to his people, and knowing that, we can trust him to never break one in the future.

God's presence is not proven by the absence of suffering, but by his faithfulness through it.

Though God has promised many things, he has never promised that we will not suffer. What God has promised is to see us through our suffering. Not only that, but by living a human life in the person of Jesus, God has experienced our suffering. We do not have a distant God who does not understand, but we have a God who suffered and died like any man did on the cross. For that, we can be grateful and confident that he sympathizes with us in our weakness.