The clock is ticking.
The engine is on and running but the car is sitting idle.
Am I where I need to be? Doing what I need to do?
I asked to find rest but am weary.
I seek Your hands and find them but cannot distinguish Your voice.
I speak without crying out.
My passion is waning yet onward I go.
“The struggle is real,” they would say, but I am not they, and they are not me.
The struggle is personal and interwoven with my soul.
The compartments that once held my emotions have dissolved and now lies before me a melting pot of feeling – some call beauty and some call chaos.
Pick apart the pieces and restore my spirit.
I’ve been reading a lot of things in my studies lately that all relate back to a few key points:
- Trusting God’s timing
- Courage in times of adversity
- Prayer
Even more ironically, I’ve periodically been thinking about the verse that says the Bible is the living word of God. Essentially that means that if you read the same things I’ve been reading, it is highly likely that your 3 points would be different from mine and relate directly to whatever you’ve been facing recently. Spoiler alert: that verse can be found in Hebrews. What book has been weighing on my heart? (It’s Hebrews if you couldn’t catch that.)
In addition to Hebrews, I just wrapped up a short study on Ruth and moved into 1 Samuel. Of course I’ve heard these stories before but not since childhood, and I thought it was as good a time as any to refresh myself on their truths.
Many, if not all, of the great heroes of the Bible experienced some kind of crisis of their faith in which they were tested under what seems like extreme conditions. Looking at Hannah and Ruth, I see trials that many of us can relate to now.
Ruth was a Moabite woman who left her country and family to move to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law Naomi. The Moabites were enemies of God’s people and although Ruth had declared her faith in the God of Naomi, there was still legitimate concern for her safety and well being in Bethlehem. Ruth and Naomi both prayed and waited patiently for God to provide for them. It happened to come in the form of Boaz who was faithful to God and married Ruth and took care of both her and Naomi.
Hannah was one of the two wives of Elkanah. Peninnah (the other wife) had many children and treated Hannah terribly because she was barren. Hannah’s spirit was broken and she came before God with a despondent and heavy heart. She cried out to God and her prayer was so intense that Eli the priest thought she was drunk. Hannah’s response to him was, “I was pouring out my soul to the Lord…I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” (1 Samuel 1:15-16) In the midst of being broken, Hannah still had faith that God was good. In the end, she gave birth to Samuel and dedicated his life back to God.
How does that relate back to everything? Both Ruth and Hannah knew that something significant could happen through them. They had faith that God had a greater purpose for their life than the pain they were temporarily feeling. I recently received a card from someone very dear to my heart that said only,
“When you believe nothing significant can happen through you, you have said more about your belief in God than you have declared about yourself. You have said that God is incapable of doing anything through you.”
Regardless of your current pain and the trials you are facing, God is still good. When the storms of life are beating you to a pulp, God is still good. If you lose your job, God is still good. Your family is falling apart and it looks like a total loss, God is still good. The bills are stacked up on the table and you have to choose which ones not to pay, God is still good. The doctor calls and you don’t have any options left, God is still good. They show up on your doorstep with a folded flag, God is still good. They couldn’t find a heartbeat during your sonogram, God is still good. You were eventually caught and arrested, God is still good.
Listen to this, and please hear me! Healing would be impossible without pain coming first, and it is in the middle of the storm that we find our strength. The season you are currently in has valuable lessons to be learned. Lean into God because when we are weak, we can either fall down and pull away from God, or we can lean into Him and be made strong through His power.
I am praying for you. Whether you know me or not, I believe that the Lord is good and has plans for your future to lift you up and restore anything in your life that is broken. I’m praying for blessings of healing, peace, comfort, and restoration. God’s hand is mighty and can fix all things regardless of how desolate they may appear to us. My pastor says that the realm of humanly impossible is God’s wheelhouse. The Lord loves the impossible because when things surpass our human ability, the only hope we have is in the power of God. I believe in that power for you. No situation is too hopeless for Him.
