Do you ever feel like you are drowning in the circumstances of life? They overpower us and drag us down in the pit of despair. My best recourse during times like these is to praise God for who He is, regardless of what I do not see Him doing in my life at the moment.
He has His plans for us and His
perfect timing. He often allows trials to drag on and on and cause us
discomfort, financial loss, relational discouragement and mental and physical
exhaustion.
We struggle with melancholy
emotions and fight against bitterness and anger. God always rescues us out of
the deep waters of trials, because He delights in us (Psalm 18:16-19).
He may take a while to deliver
us, in order to build our faith so that we trust in Him alone, and that we do
not rely on our human understanding or resources.
During this time, God also helps us
to rise above the "grouchies" and the "mulligrubs", and to
be pleasant to our family and everyone He brings our way, even if we do not
feel like it.
One aspect we encounter during
tough times is Satan's lies, which he plants in our soul all of our life. We
believe these lies, and allow them to cripple us with depression and despair.
Satan's lies may even cause us to
doubt God's love, His sincerity in keeping His Word to protect us as our
Heavenly Daddy, and that He cares about us enough to allow negative
circumstances to come against us.
We may revert to a life of sin
and addiction in order to escape the pain we feel - temporary though this
carnal reprieve may be. We prolong our agony and suffering by turning away from
God to the world, the flesh and the devil.
Instead, we can read God's Word,
which He will use to encourage us through the hard times. He will use it to
restore our wounded heart and fill us with His peace and joy.
Prayer:
Father God, we often struggle
with the horrific pain of life on this sin-cursed earth. We forget that it
takes faith to embrace Your authority over our life, and to reach out to You in
our times of need. Help us to continually pursue Your Agape love, regardless of
how we feel or what we are going through.
Remind us that others will treat
us as we allow them to relate to us, and that we do not have to believe the
lies which Satan prompts them to tell us. We often allow others to heap blame on
us for what is not our fault, and they control us through their behavior and
attitude toward us. Help us to believe the Truth of Your Word and to reject the
lies that Satan uses others to hurl at us.
Thought for the Day:
No one can make us feel
worthless, because Christ died to show us that we are valuable to Him, His
Kingdom and eternity; He reached down from Heaven and chose us before the
creation of the world so that He can love us with His everlasting love.
