IF GOD IS FOR US

What if the Lord had not been on our side?
    Let all Israel repeat:
² What if the Lord had not been on our side
    when people attacked us?
³ They would have swallowed us alive
    in their burning anger.— Psalm 124:1–3

Beloved, there are moments in life when you look back and realize, surely, this was not me — this was God. The Psalmist says, “If the Lord had not been on our side — let Israel say — if the Lord had not been on our side…” and today I want to speak to us on this simple but powerful thought:

MUNGU AKIWA JUU YAKO

When the Lord is on your side…

I remember one time, I was driving along a dusty road in Ndarugo. I had just reported for a new job, must be around 13 years ago, and I wasn’t aware how dangerous pebbles are on a murram road. I tried braking — heee! — gari ilizunguka, ikaingia kwa ditch, and somehow, the car turned facing the direction we had come from.

That day, if the Lord was not on our side, for sure, we would have perished — hata before starting the new job.

When I think about it today, I realize something very powerful: there are situations where skill cannot save you, wisdom cannot rescue you, connections cannot help you — only God can. Some of us are alive today not because we are careful drivers. Some of us are standing today not because we are stronger than others. Some of us are still sane not because life has been easy. No. It is because the Lord has been on our side.

There are accidents you escaped. There are sicknesses that almost finished you. There are battles people never knew you were fighting. There are moments discouragement almost swallowed you. There are seasons where bills looked bigger than your income. There are betrayals that almost broke your spirit. Yet somehow — you are still here.

Why? Because Mungu alikuwa juu yako.

The enemy had plans, but God had already gone ahead of you. The Psalmist says, “Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

And I came here today to encourage somebody: it really doesn’t matter what you are going through right now. If the Lord is on your side, nothing can prevail over you.

Whether it is sickness — doctors may speak, but God has the final say.

Whether it is struggles — what looks impossible to men is still possible with God.

Whether it is financial pressure — God still knows how to make a way where there seems to be no way.

Whether it is family issues — God can restore what looked broken beyond repair.

Whether it is delay — please hear me carefully, delay is not denial.

If God allowed you to survive yesterday, He is still writing your tomorrow.

The problem with many of us is that when we enter difficult seasons, we think God has abandoned us. Yet the Word of God reminds us in Isaiah 43:2, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.”

Notice something very important. God did not say if you pass through. He said when. Meaning, challenges will come. Storms will come. People will disappoint you. Tears will visit you. Difficult seasons will knock at your door. But the difference is this:

MUNGU AKIWA JUU YAKO…

You may go through the fire, but the fire will not consume you. You may enter the valley, but the valley will not bury you. You may be attacked, but you will not be defeated. You may bend, but you will not break. You may cry for a night, but joy still comes in the morning.

Think about Joseph. His brothers hated him. He was thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused, and forgotten in prison. Yet through it all, God was on his side. What was meant to destroy him became the very thing that positioned him for greatness.

And I want to remind somebody today: just because life is difficult does not mean God has left you. Sometimes, the greatest evidence that God is with you is not the absence of problems — it is your ability to survive what should have destroyed you.

• You should have collapsed — but you are still here.
• You should have given up — but somehow you kept moving.
• You should have lost your mind — but grace held you together.

MUNGU AKIWA JUU YAKO.

Romans 8:31 asks a powerful question: “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Not who will try — people will try. Situations will try. The enemy will try. But the question is: who can prevail?

The answer is simple: No one.

Because when God stands with a man, opposition loses power. When God stands with a family, storms do not have the final word. When God stands with your destiny, delays cannot cancel His purpose.

So today, do not give up. Do not lose hope. Do not stop praying. Do not stop believing. That sickness is not greater than God. That struggle is not greater than God. That delay is not greater than God. That closed door is not greater than God.

The same God who preserved you yesterday will preserve you tomorrow. And one day, you will look back and say:

“If the Lord had not been on my side… surely I would not be here today.”

May the Lord fight for you. May the Lord preserve you. May the Lord carry you through every storm. And may your testimony be:

MUNGU AKIWA JUU YANGU… UTAWEZA YOTE!!