Trusting faith!
Verse for Today: Thursday, December 5, 2013
Psalms 6:3 – My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long?
Our circumstances often take us through excruciating and acute distress and pain as its impact on our soul and body become unbearable. It is as if a heavy load is laid over our hearts to press us hard without breathing space or escape. We cry out, but our voice is often lost in the grinding of the mill of situations. We wait for the Lord to rescue us and He seems far away. The harder we try to get out, the deeper we sink in the miry clay of our situations. In exasperation we cry out and ask the Lord as to why He is not coming to our rescue. But we can be sure of one thing, that He hears our prayers, sees our struggles and knows our situations. He is only waiting to see how many lessons in faith we learn from our experiences of pain and misery. Often we cause our own troubles through immaturity, haste, impatience, poor discernment and self-dependence. Sometimes we are prey to the selfishness of others. But it is also a time of testing that the Lord allows in our lives to help us grow in faith and trust. It is in our deepest gloom that we learn how the Lord is our only help and support. Often the answer comes to us when all hope is gone. We reach a stage when our possessions, position, prominence and influence do not come to our help. In our deepest despair, even our friends elude us. When all hope is gone, we learn the hard way to trust in the Lord alone. When we ask the Lord as to why deliverance is delayed, He answers silently that He is out there to test our level of faith. But He will not push us beyond our capacity. He keeps giving us strength and grace to go through the anguish and leave it with the Lord to handle while we rest in Him. Today He comes to reassure us that He is with us in our anguish and misery and will see us through it all by teaching us wonderful lessons in faith.
Dear friend, are you experiencing unimaginable distress and anguish in life? Is your situation seemingly hopeless? Are you engulfed in pain and misery as the burden is increasing moment by moment? Are you getting impatient with the Lord that even He is not answering your prayers and delivering you from snares? But these are moments when the Lord tests your capacity to endure by faith. He is near you and He watches your distress and tears. He fills you with His peace even as your situation is extremely grim. He leads you moment by moment as you endure pain and misery by faith. He holds your hand and reassures you that He hears your cries for help. Your prayers are not ignored. Your tears are in His jar of remembrance and not forgotten. Your compassionate Lord cannot and will not turn away from your sufferings. But He is interested in strengthening you to fight your battles by faith and become victorious. Today He is delaying to deliver you so that you will use the experience of pain to learn to trust Him and grow in your faith. He is interested in your spiritual growth and faith to trust Him alone to deliver you. He will see to it that your experiences will not crush or harm you. The Lord is building you up and fortifying your faith with reassurances that as you wait in agony, He works to deliver and restore you for His glory. So do not lose faith, dear friend. Hang in there and trust the Lord. He knows how heavy your burdens are. Expect Him to come at the brink of time to rescue you.
Jeremiah 1:8 – “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
Thought for Today
The nail-pierced hands are underneath to protect and deliver us in all our situations.
Prayer for today
Dear Lord Jesus: Give me patience to wait for you to help me grow in faith as I struggle with every test that you give. Amen!
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