How to Grasp Christ’s Comfort for the Terrible, Horrible, No Good and Very Bad Days

None of us are exempt from terrible, horrible, no good and very bad days. However, if we grasp some of these truths, then we will, by the grace of God, get through them.

Philippians 4:4-9 (NKJV)

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

⁵ Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. ⁹ The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Grasp His peace with 5 “fingers”

Gratitude for Him (v.4)

G K Chesterton put it like this: “Joy is the gigantic secret of the Christian.” If we make it our regular practice to be joyful, in the Lord, then this will make it easier to put into practice when a terrible, horrible, no good and very bad day comes along.

Having a positive mental attitude is helpful but our joy here is based on our knowledge and personal relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. Ultimate joy is found in Him, which is why we are exhorted to rejoice in Him. When we seriously meditate on our sufficiency in Him and who He is and what He has done for us then this will always result in a joyful heart, regardless of the circumstances we are going through.

The apostle Paul, who wrote the letter to the Philippians, wrote these things in very difficult circumstances himself; under house arrest and chained to a Roman guard. So, we are not being exhorted to do something by a person who cannot relate to our own situations.

At the very epicentre of our human depravity is our refusal to give Him thanks:

‘For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.’
Romans 1:21 (NIV)

The writer to the Hebrews got it right when he wrote:

‘Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise–the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.’ Hebrews 13:15 (NIV)

There is so much that one could say about this verse, but one thing that particularly jumps out for me is that it is a ‘sacrifice of praise’. I don’t know about you but when I’m lying ill in bed, it’s so much easier to just want to switch on the DVD player and load up some inspirational film (like a Rocky film or something). But no, it may provide some sort of short term relief but it’s not truly going to make us feel better. But one thing I’ve noticed, if you can get beyond the initial temptation and just focus on Him and begin to thank Him, even though you don’t really feel like it, well, that’s when you begin to feel His presence, even during a terrible, horrible, no good and very bad day. Didn’t the Psalmist remind us that we enter His gates with thanksgiving and praise (Psalm 100:4).

Corrie ten-Boom knew the secret of finding His presence, even in the midst of the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp, when she wrote:

Rely on Him (v. 5a)

The word that Paul uses here, ‘gentleness’, is a very difficult word to translate, into something meaningful to us today from the Greek to our modern-day English. He writes: ^‘Let your gentleness be known to all men.’ (Philippians 4:5). To get a better understanding of the meaning of a word it’s good practice to look at other verses that use that same word.

2 Corinthians 10:1 says:

‘Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you.’ (NKJV)

Why could Jesus behave in such a meek and gentle manner? Even in the face of being wrongly accused and physically abused, His behaviour was absolutely impeccable for all to see and marvel at. He never panicked when the storms of life came, He could even sleep soundly through them.

For me, He could only do this because He knew who He really was and what was really available to Him if His Father really thought He needed it.

We then, should be so grounded on who we are in Christ and in the knowledge of what it means to be a child of God and how much how our heavenly Father loves us. If we did this, then, when the inevitable terrible, horrible, no good and very bad day comes along we will not be phased. Our gentleness and reaction will be so evident to all around us. What a powerful way to witness!

Another way of looking at this, as I mediated on it, was something I saw in someone when I was still a young man and definitely not a Christian. I used to love boxing and joined a very good club in Devon where I lived at the time. There was one boxer in the club who really stood out. He had reached the finals of the British Amateur Boxing Association on a few occasions. I only sparred with him a few times, but it was a nightmare because he could hit me at will and I could rarely catch him with anything at all. But, there was something very different about his demeanour, the way he carried himself. Yes, he was confident, but he certainly wasn’t boastful; he was always very polite and quite gentle (outside the ring!). When he wasn’t fighting, you probably never would have guessed that he was a great boxer. This was quite a sharp contrast to some of the guys that used to come to the club, although this sort didn’t usually last long. These were those that just looked and behaved like a stereotypical bully; always trying to show off, brutish and coarse in their behaviour. No, I wanted to be like that successful boxer, outside as well as inside the ring. His apparent gentleness was evident to all because he knew he hadn’t anything to prove to anyone; he was the real deal. How about you and me?

Aware of Him (V.5b)

The Reformers used to have an expression: ‘Coram Deo’ which is a Latin phrase translated “in the presence of God”. They were acutely aware that we all should be living out our days knowing that His presence is always with us and we are under His authority and should be living for His glory, in every situation, even in the midst of a terrible, horrible, no good and very bad day.

Here are some tremendous verses to think about when wanting to be aware of His presence:

The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. Psalm 145:18 (NIV)

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. Psalm 139:7-12 (NIV)

So, do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Psalm 46:1-3 (NIV)

Share needs with Him (V.6-7)

This really does follow on well from being aware of His presence being with us always. There are classic books written about this like the one written by Brother Lawrence. There are some people, who I have met, and have influenced me greatly like Jackie Pullinger who also make this their daily practice.

This is so very practical and quite easy to do really. Instead of running off to find someone to pour our hearts out too, shouldn’t we just bring all to God in prayer? Instead we use social media like Facebook and Twitter, we use up our mobile phone minutes and what’s worse is that if we really wanted help, shouldn’t we not go to the ultimate Helper!

Some might argue that it is not really necessary to bother God with all our burdens and cares, after all, He is all knowing and is aware of what’s going on anyway; we shouldn’t somehow bother God. If this was the case, why would we read: ‘Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God’ (Philippians 4:6). There are also many other verses that tell us to share our concerns with God, like:

‘Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you.’ 1 Peter 5:7 (KJV)

Francois Fenelon (1651-1715), put it well when he wrote:

‘Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one’s heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend.

Tell Him your troubles, that He may comfort you;

tell Him your joys, that He may sober them;

tell Him your longings, that He may purify them;

tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you conquer them;

talk to Him of your temptations, that He may shield you from them:

show Him the wounds of your heart, that He may heal them;

lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved tastes for evil, your instability…

Tell Him how self-love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself and others.

If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have no secrets from each other never want for subjects of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to say. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration they say just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God!’

Anxiety is a massive problem today. How many people do we personally know that are currently suffering from this? What then is the answer to this? First, we need to be in a relationship with God. Are we Christian’s? If so, ‘Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.’ Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV), (Which incidentally, according to Amazon is the number one most highlighted verses in their Bibles for e-readers).

Pursue Him with my thoughts and actions (v.8-9)

Getting a grip of our thought life is never easy and especially in the midst of a terrible, horrible, no good and very bad day, where our thoughts could, if we let them, lead us up to some very dark places.

What I’ve been finding very useful is to do a check list in mind. To help me, I’ve also written these down as a note on my phone. When I begin to feel that my thoughts are going in a wrong direction, I check to see if where I’m going with these faults would pass this verification process:

Goodness: whatever is noble, whatever is pure.

Truth: whatever is true, whatever is right.

Beauty: whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable.

If these thoughts do not pass this test we should dismiss them immediately:

“…take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5.

And finally, let us put these things into practice. And, it’s just like any other habit. It will take some time and effort but if we continue in them, change will result.

Though there may be no guarantee that whatever is causing the circumstances of a terrible, horrible, no good and very bad day will go away, we may still use it as a growing opportunity and find a deeper more intimate relationship with our Lord and in the midst of it all still be able to GRASP His peace and joy!

Learning this simple acrostic might help to these things into practice:

GRASP His peace with 5 “fingers”

Gratitude for Him (v.4)
Rely on Him (v. 5a)
Aware of Him (V.5b)
Share needs with Him (V.6-7)
Pursue Him with my thoughts and actions (v.8-9)

This has been written based on a sermon by Pastor Matt called:
Christ’s Comfort for the No Good, Very Bad Days

You can watch this sermon by clicking on the link below (the sermon is about 30 minutes and thirty seconds into the video):

https://www.northlandchurch.net/video/christs_comfort_for_the_no_good_very_bad_days/