Lately I’ve been feeling the opposite of that: God not with me. I didn’t know where He was, nor what was going on with my life. I just felt like everything was falling apart: my family, my school work, my relationship, my future, everything. I felt like everything I’ve depended on as sources of comfort were all slipping away slowly: my mom, my good grades, my boyfriend, God…and I feel so helpless to do anything. But this song we sang in church the other day has brought me some comfort in the midst of this storm:

Emmanuel – Hillsong
Holy Holy
I will bow before
My Lord and King
Hallelujah
You have come to us
You make all things new

Emmanuel
Jesus Christ
You’ll never let me go
My Sheperd King
You’re watching over me
Emmanuel

So amazing
You have named the stars
Of the deepest night
Still You love me
You have called my name
I will follow You

Holy Holy
God Almighty
There is none like You
Holy Holy
God Almighty
There is none like You

There was a prophecy about Jesus that said he would be born of a virgin and be called Emmanuel1, which means God with us. This “God with us” has a deeper meaning than just God being amongst us. It also implies that Jesus, as fully man and fully God, understood and experienced all the anguishes and pains we as humans have felt. There is no suffering we have gone through, whether it be loneliness2, betrayal3, or distance from God4, that Jesus himself has not felt.

Listening to this song, I’m reminded of the fact that God is not only with me, but that He fully understands my pain. Like the lyrics say, He is my Shepherd King, and He will never let me go. My problems are still there, but at the same time, so is God.

  1. Matthew 1:23 ↩
  2. Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, right before he was betrayed ↩
  3. Jesus betrayed by his own disciple with a kiss. ↩
  4. when Jesus carried all our sins on that cross. ↩