O' Rejoice
not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit
in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. Micah 7:8
Are
you sitting in darkness today? Do you feel like no one cares? Are you
whining and complaining because things are not going the way you
wanted them to? I can say I have been there done that but today I
know my God shall be the light that leads me out of the darkness, and
He will be the light that leads you too. All we really need to do is
put our hope and trust in God.
We
need to say to ourselves “Why so downcast oh my soul? Put your
trust in God, for He will save us yet!” when we have days that seem
like nothing will work.
We
need to count it all joy, as we are told here in James.
My
brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing
that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience
have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete lacking
nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom let him ask of God, who gives to
all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But
let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a
wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man
suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a
double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. James 1:2-8
But
just what does that mean exactly; to count it all joy? It means that
we do not fret, fuss or get frustrated over our problems but realize
that God has a hand in our life plan and that He will bring good from
the bad; beauty from ashes.
For
a good visual; back in 1980 there was an eruption of Mt St. Helen in
Washington State. The ash, not lava, that spewed out of the cone was
scattered quite far and quite thick, it was turned to mud in some
areas. In the line of the flow all trees and other vegetation was
completely wiped out and what appears in pictures as twigs sticking
out of the ground were what was left of a beautiful forest.
It
was a mess. Then someone decided they could make something out of all
the ash. Kids began scooping it up and selling it in baby food jars.
Pottery was made from the muddy ash that had a unique look to it even
when glazed; it was truly beauty from ashes.
Today
the forest is back the mountain is green once again.
That
is how God works in our lives; He brings us out of the mud and the
mire and creates in us beauty.
From
turmoil He brings us peace.
From
our weakness He brings us strength; when we remember to trust Him to
take care of us we can truly say “No worries”.
Whom
have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire
besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of
my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:25 -26
Lately, for half a year in fact, I have had to learn this over and over. I have to keep my focus on God because if I do not I will trip up on the emotional roller-coaster ride of pain, discouragement and frustration. When I choose to adjust my focus on the positive that God is doing in my life, to focus on Him; then I can rejoice even in the midst of my trials; even in the midst of my pain.
Sometimes
physical ailments cause us so much pain we just want to give up; that
is when Christ can step in and take the lead in our lives; He will
keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him, remember?
Yet
I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet,
and he will make me walk on my high places. Habakkuk 2:18-19
Sometimes
the emotional or mental anguish can out weight the joy in our hearts
and we do not think we can keep up the worship, praise and rejoicing
in the Lord; sometimes we just want to give up trying to be who we
think we should be in Christ.
When
we stop trying to figure out who we are supposed to be in Christ and
start doing the things His Word, our Bible, tells us to do we will
find the peace that passes understanding and joy unspeakable
automatically overflowing in our hearts and minds.
I
know, it is so easy to allow the cares of this world to pull us down
but we have to rise up above that, right? We have to decide to follow
what God tells us to do even when we do not feel like we have the
strength, the will, or the know-how; for God is with us in all that
we do.
We
must believe that He is, and since He is we must believe that He
will.
Believe
that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
Believe that He will direct our paths.
Believe that He will direct our paths.
Believe
that He loves us unconditionally and that means He will love us even
if we blow it; His Grace is sufficient for us.
Believe
that He has done and will do more for us in our lives than hang on a
cross; His love conquered sin and death.
Once
we believe, we must pray and ask for His help, admit to ourselves we
can't do it alone. Sure we can try to cheer ourselves out of
depression but that will only last a moment. We can try to exercise
ourselves out of an injury on our own; but only God heals to the
core.
We
can tell ourselves we deserve the pain and suffering, but God heals
regardless of deserving or not.
Remember
that we are weak, and when we re weak it is because our flesh is
human. We have to remember we are not God, we are man. That may
sound funny to some of you but when we try to do it all on our
selves; whether it is tackling a problem physically, emotionally or
mentally if we do not use God on our team we will not meet our goal.
Jesus
told his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane that “the spirit was
willing but the flesh was weak” Mark 14:38
When
we need to strengthen our body we work out, sometimes it is necessary
to work through the problem with God as our personal trainer. Our
body, or flesh, may be weak but through His Word we can be
strengthened to resolve to know that God is in control. We can be
stronger in spirit than we are in body and grow closer to Him in the
process.
The
closer we get to Jesus the more we will have the strength in our
lives to continue through the trial that we are in. Amazing isn't
it? He truly is our strength and He will break down every wall and
become our peace when we put our trust in Him.
Our
strength is in Him.
Our
joy is in Him.
Our
hope is in Him; when our trust is in Him.
Dear
Heavenly Father, Help us to trust you. Help us to listen to Your
Words as we read our Bibles every day. Help us to follow the examples
you have laid out before us and find the hope, peace and joy in the
strength that comes only from You. In Jesus name. Amen.
Suggested
reading: Mark 14:1-39, Psalm 37:1-40, Psalm 42:1-11, Psalm 43: 1-5,
Psalm 73:1-28 and Proverbs 3:5-8.