“… for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]”Hebrews 13:5.
The sun is still always there in the sky, even when we are surrounded by lightning and thunder and overwhelming circumstances. Despite how we feel, nothing has actually changed between us and the Lord. Perhaps, something ugly and overwhelming has just pushed its way between us and the One we love… but His truth does not change. His love is unchanging. And the sun is still shining above those dark roiling clouds that are producing fearful storms. It will return. Breathe … and hold on.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
There are times in all our lives when we feel assailed on every side, and overwhelmed by circumstances beyond our control. Even beginning to know what to do next, seems so far away – and right now it is buried under the weight of trying to hold onto what we desperately need to believe. I hate that feeling of waking up into a brand new day, only to have the memory of some darkness or other crowd out His light.
However, the Lord is so precious, even when we let go of Him — He will not let go of us. His goodness is always flowing toward us constantly. Like a heartbeat. There are no easy ways through dark times, no magic words to say … instead, it seems our worst fears have exploded into despair and destruction … but we are always His, and partakers of His unchanging love. Hold on.
The first thing I would like to contribute, something that I’ve learnt myself, is that when desperately hard things happen, don’t ‘should’ on yourself. What I mean by that is don’t start counting up things you think you should have done, or should not have done. The past is the past, all the regret in the world cannot change what has already happened. Now we are waiting for redemption – not a rewrite.
Even if we have what we think is evidence proving that we have accidentally contributed to our dire situation, don’t let the enemy of your soul use that regret to throw you into a sink hole. Fight for your right to believe in His goodness and then grab hold of Jesus’ hand. We don’t even have to pray, just grab hold of Him and hang on! Some prayers don’t have words! But do yell if you need to … our emotions are never too big for our precious Saviour to handle.
Despite the temptation to continually think things through to try to somehow find a different ending, just let finding the answer, an answer, ANY answer … go. This is not the time to revise or review things, this is the time to REST in what we already know about Him, not change our theology or methodology. There is no easy way through the rivers that have risen above our heads, or a fire that threatens to burn through our very existence. There is no quick quote, no scripture, no quick fix when our faith is being severely shaken by overwhelming circumstances.
The things to bring to mind are things like …God is always good. He is still on His throne. Jesus died for this too plus the Holy Spirit is ever with us. These awful circumstances are not punishment – He took ALL our punishment onto Himself.
I can’t even try to begin to explain why bad things happen to people, I just know they do. In my limited experience sometimes the people who love Him dearly, have hell thrown at them, and there is no rhyme or reason to it. And I know, that I know, that HE hasn’t caused it. I also know, that blame of any kind, is always deadly – it poisons the soul. This trial, this suffering or sorrow, is not something that Almighty God thought we deserved – it is simply what life looks like in a fallen world.
Sometimes the way through difficulties is one step at a time, so do what David did. He used his awful times to remember the goodness of God. “These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.” Psalm 42:4. Remember how passionately you feel about your faith, even though those feelings may have disappeared at this time. Our faith is so much more valuable to God than gold or diamonds or precious stones.
In these times, we particularly need to do our best to take care of our bodies. We are not betraying anyone else if we take care of ourselves. When a crisis happens, each day can bring its own troubles, and we are going to need strength to face things as they come at us. Read scriptures that have great meaning to you, over and over again, when you can. Say them aloud, so your ears can hear them. And let the Body of Christ send love to you, in whatever form it comes. I pray, today, that whoever is needy, will find comfort in Him. He is always with us, even in this life’s darkest valleys. Bless you. 😢
