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| Are You Spiritually Gritting Your Teeth? |
When you are hard pressed and cannot find any relief, when you feel like it’s you standing alone against everything… When your spiritual endurance has reached its end… When the attacks are coming so fast and so furious that you feel like you are being slapped in the face left and right, back and forth…
Times when you
are soooooooo weary of it all that you just want to yell out, “That’s it!” Get
up and push your chair into the table and declare, “No more Jello pudding for
ME, MA!!!!”
And that is for
those of us who are Christians and trying to “walk out” our faith. I honestly have no idea how those who aren’t
believers don’t lose their absolute mind.
Sometimes I feel as though my sanity is hanging by a thread of faith.
Here is the one
thing that keeps me hanging on, no matter how I feel, no matter what my situation
is, God is on His throne. He’s still in
control, regardless of my feelings. I
will admit that there are times when I want to rage and have a full blown
childlike temper tantrum. There are
times when ol’ slewfoot whispers in my ear, “Yeah, well if God cared SOOOOOO
much about you, why are you struggling so hard?” Or he whispers other taunts to discourage
me. Even when I’m in situations where I
am laying prostrate with my face down and I don’t have the energy, strength or
answers to say. I simply utter one of my
“please God” prayers. There are times
when I feel defeated by my circumstances, there are times when I really DO want
to give up, but here is the thing. I know that this is when I am being
tested. This is where the rubber hits
the road, in spite of my faults and the things that God is working on within
me, I know that there go I BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD. It’s ONLY His grace. If there is one thing that I am sure of, that
I know from the 29 years I have been a Christian, it is that I am totally
dependent upon Him. I recognize that I
am weak, that I make mistakes that most of the situations I get into are of my
own doing. Nothing comes as a surprise
to God. He knows you intimately. He knows your mind, He knows your heart, He
knows the desires of your heart, He knows what your strengths are and what your
weaknesses are. He knows it ALL. And even more so, He sees the FULL picture. We only see part of it. The struggle is REAL. It’s what you do during that time of struggle
that determines where your faith lies.
Satan went
before the throne room of God and taunted him about his servant, Job.
On another day the angels
came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to
present himself before him. And the LORD said to Satan, "Where have you
come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming throughout the
earth, going back and forth on it." Then the LORD said to Satan,
"Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he
is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still
maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without
any reason." "Skin for skin!" Satan replied. "A man will
give all he has for his own life. But now stretch out your hand and strike his
flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face." The LORD said
to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his
life." (Job 2:2-2:6)
If Satan could
go before God and taunt him about Job, there is a very good chance that he does
the same with us.
What are you
struggling with? What is your response
to that struggle? Are you blaming
God? Your reaction to your situation is
being noted. It could very well be a
test to determine if your faith lies within yourself or if your faith is in
God. Sometimes your strength is so low
that all you can say is, “I trust you Lord.”
Maybe that is
when God steps in and says, “Okay – I’ve got this! TRUST ME. I’m bigger than your situation (even if it is
a mess you yourself has made.) Maybe He just wants us to recognize that He is
our provider, the lifter of our heads.
We have promises that He has made us.
I think God has given them to us for times to reflect on such as the
above, so that when we are at our lowest of low moments, we can hold on to His
words and trust that He is not a God that He would lie.
“I’ve got plans to prosper
you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah
29)
“I have made you the head
and not the tail.” (Deuteronomy 28:13)
“I have come so that you
can have life and have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
“Trust in the Lord with ALL
your heart and lean not to your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge
Him and He will direct your path.” (Psalm 3:5)
“If you being evil give
good gifts to your children, how much more so will your Heavenly Father bless
you, oh you of little faith?” (Matthew 7:11)
These are JUST a
small portion of promises and words of encouragement that God has given us through
His Word. It is during those times when
ALL else has failed that we turn to what He has told us.
My hat is off to
Job. I love the Lord, I cannot ever
imagine “cursing God and dying” as Job’s wife instructed him to do. (Hence the saying: “with friends like that who needs enemies?”) I think this is one of the reasons why God
encourages us to fellowship with other believers’, people who will encourage
you and commiserate with you, so that when you are feeling like your strength
is depleted they can strengthen you with prayer, the Word of God and with
love.
One of the last
things Jesus said before He rose to Heaven was:
“I will never leave for
forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
Whatever we
experience in life, He is right there with us, upholding us – whether we “feel
it or not.” It is what He said. And if
He said it, He meant it, and if He meant it – we can believe it.
Just simply
believe.
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