The Presence of God Is the Blessing

Sep 27, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: The Weighted Vest That Never Comes Off

Grief clings like a weighted vest, its heaviness reshaping daily rhythms. Engaging with loss requires choosing to move through mundane tasks - walking to the mailbox, making breakfast, breathing - when every step feels like resistance training. Over time, muscles adapt to carry what cannot be removed. The vest remains, but strength grows to bear its weight while still climbing life’s mountains. This is not denial but sacred endurance, trusting the body and soul to learn new capacities for living alongside absence. [53:26]

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
(Psalm 34:18, NIV)

Reflection: How does engaging with grief as daily training—rather than resisting it—change your capacity to carry loss? Where do you feel God strengthening spiritual muscles you didn’t know you had?

Day 2: When "Blessed" Feels Like a Mocking Word

A painted window proclaiming "We Are Blessed" becomes a cruel joke after burying a child. Human definitions of blessing crumble under tragedy’s weight, exposing our addiction to equating God’s favor with ease. Yet Mary’s life—marked by refugee flights, public shame, and her son’s brutal death—was called "highly favored." Blessing isn’t a forcefield against pain but the presence of God walking through fire beside us. True favor is found not in spared suffering but in the Comforter who enters the furnace. [01:17:06]

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."
(Matthew 5:4, NIV)

Reflection: When has God’s nearness surprised you in seasons of sorrow? How might you offer His comfort to someone whose pain makes "blessing" feel like a foreign language?

Day 3: The Presence That Pierces and Sustains

Mary’s blessing began not with miracles but with a declaration: "The Lord is with you." Before angelic visits or prophetic words, she carried the presence that would sustain her through decades of sword-pierced joy. God’s nearness doesn’t prevent soul wounds but becomes the balm that keeps broken hearts beating. Like Mary, we’re invited to let presence—not outcomes—define our blessedness. The weight of grief may press, but it cannot crush the God who breathes within our lungs. [01:17:56]

"The angel went to her and said, 'Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.' [...] But the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.'"
(Luke 1:28, 30, NIV)

Reflection: How does Mary’s story redefine what being "highly favored" looks like in your current struggles? Where do you most need to sense God’s sustaining presence today?

Day 4: Walking the Valley Hand in Hand

Faith isn’t a detour around dark valleys but a hand to hold while walking through them. The promise isn’t protection from pain but partnership in the shadowlands. Like a parent steadying a child’s first steps, God’s grip tightens when the path slopes downward. Every tear becomes holy ground where divine and human footprints intermingle. The goal isn’t escaping the valley but discovering the Shepherd’s heartbeat in the darkest stretches. [01:20:37]

"Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."
(Psalm 23:4, NIV)

Reflection: What valley are you walking through where you need to focus less on the terrain and more on God’s hand in yours? How can you practice "palm-to-palm" trust today?

Day 5: Becoming the Hands That Hold the Broken

The church becomes safest when it stops trying to fix grief and simply becomes God’s arms. No platitudes, just presence. No explanations, just casseroles and Costco receipt-checkers who notice trembling hands. Mary modeled this at the cross—offering no solutions, just steadfast nearness. As the body of Christ, we don’t absorb others’ pain but create space for the Spirit to bind wounds through our listening ears and shared tears. Safety isn’t found in absence of pain but in abundance of love. [57:53]

"They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers."
(Acts 1:12-14, NIV)

Reflection: Who needs you to be "Mary at the cross" for them this week—not fixing, just abiding? How can you create safe space for someone’s grief without rushing to resolve it?

Sermon Summary

Grief does not work like a thing that eventually disappears. Grief is more like a weighted vest, heavy and permanent, but something a body can slowly learn to carry well. The loss of a son has not made life make sense, and it has not made Costco feel safe, but the love of God through his people has made a place of shelter in the middle of devastation.

The lie of curse and control says that suffering must mean someone did something wrong. The lie of control even hides inside the question, “What did I do?” because it imagines pain could be avoided if life were handled correctly. God does not promise a route around the valley of the shadow of death, and God does not make disciples immune from the fallen world’s sharpest pain.

Mary’s life tears apart the shallow version of blessing. The angel calls Mary highly favored before announcing the impossible, costly assignment ahead of her, and the reason is simple: “The Lord is with you.” Mary carries humiliation, fear, displacement, loss, the death of Joseph, a sword through her soul, and the sight of her own Son dying on a cross. Yet Mary remains blessed, not because everything goes right, but because the presence of God stays with her.

The presence of God is the blessing. Psalm 23, the words of Jesus, and Mary’s whole life insist that God comes very close to the brokenhearted. Christ does not abandon those whose hearts are pierced through. The Holy Spirit becomes the comfort that cannot be taken when homes, relationships, health, dreams, and beloved people are taken.

Mary also shows what blessed people do with pain. The woman who carried Jesus within her refuses to leave Jesus at the cross, even when her presence is the only thing she can give. The woman who knows God’s presence becomes present to others. The body of Christ becomes hands, feet, arms, prayers, meals, tears, and steady love, making God’s nearness visible in hard times.

The Holy Spirit now gives what Mary knew in a unique way: God’s presence not merely beside people, but in them. Blessing is not a life that is safe and wonderful all the time. Blessing is the Lord with his people, in the valley and in the waiting room, until his presence feels more like home than anything else.

Key Takeaways

1. Grief can be carried, not escaped Grief is not a failure of faith or a problem to solve. The weighted vest image makes room for sorrow that remains while strength grows around it. Love leaves weight behind because love was real, and carrying that weight well can become its own kind of faithfulness. [54:50]
2. Control cannot protect against suffering The fear of being cursed often comes from the desperate hope that pain can be prevented through better behavior. Suffering exposes how little control people actually possess over life and death. Faith begins again when God is trusted without demanding an explanation that makes tragedy manageable. [74:47]
3. God’s presence is the blessing Mary was highly favored before her life became visibly difficult, because the Lord was with her. Blessing is not the absence of a pierced soul. God’s nearness becomes the treasure that remains when circumstances take away nearly everything else. [78:31]
4. Presence becomes a gift to others Mary stayed at the cross when others ran away, offering Jesus the costly gift of not leaving. The presence of God forms people who can sit in another person’s pain without trying to tidy it up. The body of Christ becomes most believable when it shows up, weeps, serves, and stays.

## [84:38]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[52:18] - Carrying Grief Like a Weighted Vest
[55:38] - A Safe Place to Grieve
[58:26] - Bereavement, Sabbatical, and Returning Vision
[60:52] - You Are Not Cursed
[64:06] - What Does It Mean to Be Blessed?
[66:05] - Mary’s Life of Pain and Favor
[72:19] - A Sword Will Pierce Your Soul
[74:20] - The Comfortable Lie of Control
[76:34] - God Stays Close to the Brokenhearted
[77:56] - The Presence of God Is the Blessing
[81:14] - The Body of Christ in Hard Times
[83:49] - Mary’s Ministry of Presence
[88:08] - Blessed in Every Circumstance
[90:14] - Come, Holy Spirit
[97:37] - Making God’s Presence Home

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Luke 1:28
“The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” [01:17:55]

Psalm 23:4
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” [01:18:38]

Psalm 34:18
“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” [01:17:06]

Observation questions

In Luke 1:28, what two realities are connected to Mary being “highly favored,” and what happens immediately after this greeting? [01:18:06]
What details from Mary’s life show that being blessed did not mean she was spared humiliation, fear, displacement, loss, or deep sorrow? [01:10:13]
In Psalm 23:4, where does the psalmist walk, and what is given as the reason he does not need to fear? [01:18:38]
According to Psalm 34:18, to whom does the Lord draw near, and how was that closeness described in times of devastating grief? [01:17:34]

Interpretation questions

If Mary is called favored before receiving an assignment that will be costly and painful, how does that reshape the meaning of God’s favor in a believer’s life? [01:18:14]
Why can the question, “What did I do?” become an attempt to regain control after suffering? How might that question keep a person from honestly grieving and trusting God? [01:14:28]
Psalm 23 does not promise a detour around the valley of the shadow of death. What does it mean that God’s answer in the valley is his presence rather than an escape route? [01:20:29]
Mary remained at the cross when her presence was the only gift she could offer. Why can simply staying with someone in pain be a meaningful expression of Christlike love? [01:24:29]

Application questions

Is there a grief, disappointment, fear, or loss that has felt like a weighted vest? What might it look like to carry it honestly before God rather than trying to deny it, rush it away, or lie down under its weight? [54:18]
When something painful happens, does the mind tend to search for someone to blame—including oneself—or for a way to control the outcome? What truth about God could be held onto in that moment? [01:02:05]
Where has God’s presence been most real in a hard season—through prayer, Scripture, worship, a friend, practical help, tears, or quiet strength to keep going? [01:21:34]
Is there someone currently carrying grief or hardship who may not need an explanation, but needs steady presence? What is one tangible way to show up this week: a meal, a message, sitting with them, practical help, or prayer? [01:22:13]
What practices could help make awareness of God’s presence part of everyday life, not only a resource in crisis—such as a brief prayer, silence, gratitude, or asking the Holy Spirit for help? [01:30:48]
In what area of life is it hardest to believe that God’s presence is a real blessing even when circumstances remain unresolved? How can the group support one another in trusting that God is still near? [01:29:01]

Sermon Clips

53s

#BlessedByPresence

“We are blessed when we do not have a home to live in. We are blessed. We are blessed when we are single, not by our own choosing. We are blessed. We are blessed when we grieve what is most valuable and precious that has been taken from us. We are blessed. We are blessed when we feel disappointed. We are blessed when we are maligned or misunderstood. We are blessed. We are blessed. We are blessed because we have what cannot be taken from us, brothers and sisters. We have the presence of God. The presence of God is the blessing.”

42s

#ThroughTheValley

“You see, God never promised to reroute us around the valley of the shadow of death. We have had many conversations about that. know GPS. You could just say, okay. Valley of the shadow of death this way. Let's go that way. But what he did promise is that we would walk it together hand in hand. And how tenderly God has met me in this season of devastation. I can confidently say, as my world has collapsed around me, that the presence of God has not left my side.”

44s

#StayingPresent

“On the day of her son's death when nearly all of his followers abandoned him to suffer on the cross, everyone would have been like, oh, give Mary a pass. This is her child. Let other people bear that load. No. They ran away. Mary, the mom, is like, I will not leave my son. The only thing that she could give to her son in that moment was presence. And I believe because she had been discipled by the presence of God himself, she understood what it meant to be with someone.”

45s

#PresenceFeelsLikeHome

“Receive the gift of the presence of God today, today, and every day. May it overflow with abundance in your life. May it be a place that you return to over and over and over again, matter what comes your way. May you be found in the presence of God. May it be your home. May the presence of God feel more at home to you than the state that you live in, the the team that you support, that the car that you drive, the family that you serve. May the presence of God feel like home.”

40s

#WeAreTheBody

“The way that you have prayed for us, holding up our hands to heaven, the Lord has been present to me, but so have all of you. Do not underestimate what it means to be the body of Christ in hard times. Don't underestimate what it means to be a hand and a foot in the service of Jesus. have all been the presence of God to me, which is why I can confidently say that I am blessed and highly favored even as my soul has been pierced through.”

31s

#BlessedThroughPain

“She was present in his ministry. She watched her son die in front of her eyes, and she did not look away. She endured the agony of watching him die and miraculously got to see him rise from the dead only to have to say goodbye forty days later. Mary's life was full of pain, yet she was called blessed.”

38s

#LettingGoOfControl

“We don't realize how easy it is to believe a comfortable lie that we somehow control our lives. Even believing that you're cursed or you've done something wrong is still control. You're still thinking I can fix it. If I just get it right, then I can get myself around the pain. But when you experience pain like death, it lays bare the true intentions of our soul as follows of Jesus.”

48s

#PresenceIsTheBlessing

“Blessings, cursings. We can look at our lives and and try and put it on a scale. We're going to feel crazy most of the time. if we use we use scripture to look at what a what blessing is, That it might not be everything going right in your life. It might not be perfect. It might not be everything is safe and wonderful and holy and precious and great all the time. But if the blessing is the presence of God, then brothers and sisters, we are all blessed.”

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