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Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Ever felt lost and drowning in darknessEver felt lost
and drowning in darkness
“The road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built
in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination.” ― Marion Zimmer Bradley
There are those times in life when we feel like
life is totally against us.
Work erupts into a nightmare of problems and dismays, most of which come our way, home life has illnesses, angers, annoyances,
schedule incompatibilities, the landlord threatens to throw us out and then to crown it all we find our appliances are giving
out, failing and life is just full of turmoil and trouble.
This can drag our self-worth down and threaten our very existence. “What am I worth? I would be better
off dead, at least then I would be away from this pain!” some might even say.
The truth is there is a strong thread of hope. God understands how the evil of life can take
us down. Sometimes it is due to us letting it in, other times it can be just to enable us to grow into new directions of life
by facing and conquering the evil with God’s Holy Spirit inside us.
That hope is there because no matter how bad and dark it gets, God is always waiting to hear from us. He is always with us, even when we don’t think
he is or don’t experience his presence.
The bible describes the path we sometimes walk in Psalm 107
“Some wandered in desert wastelands,
finding no way
to a city where they could settle.
They
were hungry and thirsty,
and their lives ebbed away.”
We can feel as if we are alone in the great expanse of despair, trudging through life, alone, desperately hungry and thirsty
for divine intervention and as if our very lives are about to fade out.
God
understands! He is ready to hear us. It say
is psalm 107;
“Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He led them by a straight way
to a city where they could settle.”
He
is waiting for us to turn to him. Not turn
in anger, or annoyance at what is happening, not shrieking out curses and profanity, and not turning to him out of guilt.
Rather God wants us turning to Him because of who He is, the ultimate truth, sustainer and creator of all.
Life was not meant
to be easy and Jesus never promised it would be.
Rather Jesus said in Luke 9;
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”
We are under a load of life, the way is hard, even uphill at times, and it can seem as if there is no truth in sight even that we
are walking to our deaths. Yet, through all of this Holy Spirit is within us sustaining us
towards our life’s great goals.
Knowing this as a fact is a great help, knowing God is listening
is a thread to which we can cling.
Psalm 143 says
“Lord, hear my prayer,
listen to my cry for mercy;
in your faithfulness and righteousness
come to my relief.
Do not bring your servant into judgment,
for no one living
is righteous before you.”
God
is there listening to this prayer. Written by ancient men, it rings true
in the pain of today. We are no more righteous than any of those men.
Everyone
fails God. Failing is not unique to ourselves,
it is a human attribute. It’s not God that is causing our pain, but rather that the absence of God’s truth and
His way in the lives around us that generates the pain and despair.
We
are to hold to the thread and pray to the sustainer of this universe who is the only
one who knows it all.
We may feel as if;
“The enemy pursues me,
he crushes me to the ground;
he makes me dwell in the darkness
like those long dead.
So my spirit grows faint within me;
my heart within me is dismayed.”
We need to remember the days of long ago. We must meditate on all the works God has done and is doing and consider what His hands have done.
Then we reach out to God;
“I
spread out my hands to you;
I thirst for you like a parched land.”
We need to enfold ourselves into his grace and protection. We cannot fight to save ourselves, He is our only true choice.
In the wise words of the psalmist we say
“Answer me quickly, Lord;
my spirit fails.
Do not hide your face from me
or I will be like those who go down to the pit.
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put
my trust in you.
Show me the
way I should go,
for to you I entrust my life.
Rescue
me from my enemies, Lord,
for I hide myself in you.
Teach
me to do your will,
for you are my God;
may
your good Spirit
lead me on level ground”
The uphill strain will finally fade and God will be with us plain and simply.
We
need to remember those words to God’s people as they faced giants and entered a land which was aggressively against
them;
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be
afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Deuteronomy 31.
The victory needs to be God’s. When we cannot see a way out, we must understand
that God does and can make the way out for us. It takes faith and trust to follow a way that is a difficult uphill path. Let’s
never lose our integrity and strive to gain ground, not for ourselves, but because we are led by God through hellish places
with Him in our lives, and then into his rest. It can take time, but fortunately as humans that is limited and with God it
takes far less time than without him.
I pray my friend that you understand the joy of Jesus and even
if you don’t feel it this second, it resides in your heart and gives you strength to go on into the day and days ahead.
God is good, it takes courage to see that!
Be blessed!
Tue, September 8, 2015 | link
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