June 2, 2022 – Click here to listen
So lately pretty much everything I’ve done has gone sour. I won’t bore you with details but suffice it to say aside from one bright bit of news a few days ago I have been inundated with stuff going seriously wrong day after day for quite some time.
So, life is like a roller coaster, a few weeks back everything appeared rosy, and I was enjoying the view from the top, and now I’m descending at breakneck speed into the valley. Yes, I realize I’m more fortunate than most of the people living on this planet and have been blessed far beyond my imagination, but I still feel the rigors of fighting the demonic forces through this life and that is not fun for anyone. While my problems may not be your problems, nonetheless they are problems, they are real, and I need to resolve them.
So, the other day I was facing a very difficult task and just kept putting it off and avoiding it. I felt as though there was so much to do on this complex project I didn’t even know where to start. Suddenly without warning, I felt the urge just to go to work on it. I amazed myself at how fast that project that I had been dreading for days just disappeared in less than an hour and today is merely a distant memory.
I used to have a saying at my various businesses, “Work don’t worry”. Most problems simply don’t go away until you decide, ENOUGH, and go to work and make something happen to resolve it. It states in the Bible that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It does not say Christ will do all things for me. It states that “I” can do all things through Christ. His contribution is to strengthen us, and He expects us to do our part which is the work side of things.
As I think about it what does He mean by strengthen us? The Apostle Paul’s “secret” was trusting that God is dependable, constant, reliable to the highest degree. It means we can say with certainty, “My God shall supply all my needs,” when we trust Him to provide what we lack. Sometimes what we need is the strength to persevere through times of hardship. Paul said, “I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength”.
If you find yourself down in the valley today, I urge you to go to work and be confident that through the strength of God you will be back on the peak enjoying the glorious view while basking in the warm sunshine. Be resilient. I am like the Ever-Ready bunny I can take a licking and keep on ticking, and I am committed to tenaciously fight through life until my last breath. I say it is time to quit feeling sorry for ourselves and pick out the most difficult problem facing us and go to work and then take the next and so on.
The Bible tells us to wait on the Lord and I have heard too many people using this out of context. Waiting on God means going without answers to prayer, such as wondering why you are caught in a downward spiral, why the wicked seem to prosper, and having your desires delayed and hope deferred. Waiting on God is not only difficult; sometimes it seems impossible. We want things to happen in our own timing, according to our plans. We are the now generation and desire instant gratification. We seem to ignore that God is in control and not us.
We need to realize that God has a greater perspective of life’s events (past, present, and future), and His perspective, plans, and schedules are perfect and holy because He is perfect and holy. Don’t use the excuse you are awaiting word from the Lord as a reason not to go to work on resolving problems.
Young King David faced the downward spiral and his trials that would make the bravest man among us tremble didn’t deter him. He prayed the following prayer and headed for the wall confident the Lord would show up to strengthen him and He did . . .
Psalm 18:29
“With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall”.