Author: Eddie Davidson

The passion of my heart is to learn the secret of living a surrendered life and to live that life before my family and a watching world. I desire to proclaim God’s Word with a dependence upon the Holy Spirit so that truth is revealed and Christ is exalted. I desire to lead in a way that fosters a passion in the hearts of others to be a people after God’s heart. My ambition is to live a life of obedient faith so that God may be pleased and glorified.

Songs in the Night

When you have your health and you have your wealth and you have your freedom and you have your hope—it is easy to sing. But should you find yourself in some dark night of the soul,  without a ray of hope—should you find yourself locked in some prison of despair—try then to voice a song. That is when it will take divine intervention to bring a song from your soul

“But none saith, Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night?”—Job 35:10.

There is a night in every day. There are also nights in every life. The night to which I refer, is a period marked by grief or gloom, by questions or confusion, by discouragement or doubt. A night can last hours, or days, or months or years.

It can be a night of anxiety, or a night of alarm; a night of brokenness or, a night of bankruptcy; a night of confusion, or a night of calamity;  a night of depression, or a night of desperation; a night of emptiness, or a night of emergency; a night of frailty, or a night of failure; a night of guilt, or a night of gloom; a night of heartache, or a night of hopelessness; a night of illness, or a night of injustice; a night of being jobless, or a night in jail like Paul and Silas; a night of loss, or a night of loneliness; a night of misery, or a night of mockery; a night of need, or a night of news that crushes the soul! On and on we could go, describing those dark nights that engulf us—those nights that seem to never have a sunrise.

Job was in one of those nights. His night was made darker by friends and family who couldn’t understand his darkness. They came along and said, “If you would just look for God—if you would just ask God—God would give you answers.” One of them, Elihu, observed: “But none saith, Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night?”—Job 35:10.

In his statement, Elihu was right, and he was wrong. He was wrong about Job. Job sought the Lord amidst the darkness of his circumstances. But God offered Job no answers. Elihu suggested that getting out of the darkness was as easy as breathing a prayer. “Just knock on God’s door, and He will answer.” But Job had knocked, and there was no answer.  Job had raised the question: “Where is God my Maker?”

Are you in one of those nights when God doesn’t answer? Are you in one of those seasons characterized by gloom rather than gladness, by fear rather than faith? Elihu was wrong! Answers are not always immediate, even when a man looks for God. But Elihu was right when he said, “God giveth songs in the night.”However, as of yet, Job had no song. Job wanted a song.  Job needed a song. Job was not guilty of failing to seek God. But God was yet to grant a song in his night of despair.

God promises to give a mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness. But all Job had was heaviness and heartache.  All he had was weariness and woe! God’s songs come in His timing, but He does give songs in the night. He gives a song in the night of oppression and in the night of opposition; in the night of pain, and in the night of perplexity; in the night of questions, and in the night that quakes with dread;  in the night of regret and in a night of ruin. God does give songs in the night!

We see it in Scripture. Job’s life had no song. His life was all darkness. But God, in His timing, gave Job a song—and oh what a song Job sings from the pages of Scripture. Once God’s glory shined into the darkness of his circumstances, Job exclaimed:  “I know that You can do all things and that no purpose of  Yours can be thwarted!”Job 42:2 Job’s sure song rings through the ages into your darkness and mine.

Two servants of God sat in a Philippian jail. Beaten and in bondage, God gave Paul and Silas a song to sing in their midnight. God gave Joseph a song concerning the darkness of his dungeon and David a song about the dark cave of Adullam. He gave Miriam and Moses a song as they came out of the oppression of an Egyptian darkness. Can God give you a song in the darkness of your personal despair?

We also see it in experience. How many of you have been through a time of darkness when you thought God was a million miles away, only to break through that darkness and discover thatGod was nearer than you ever imagined? Your soul still sings of that dark night when glory finally dawned!

Anyone can sing in the day. Anyone can sing when their cup is full and when their life is full of blessing.  It is quite another thing in the night of suffering, or in the night of sorrow; in the night of trial, or in the night of terror; in the night of urgency, or in the night of uncertainty; in the night of weakness, or in the night of worry; in the night of violence, or in the night of villainy!

It is easy to sing when there is light to read the hymal, but in the darkness, the words must come from the heart—they must come from inspiration. There are nights in life so black that it seems that there is no song! When you have your health and you have your wealth and you have your freedom and you have your hope—it is easy to sing. But should you find yourself in some dark night of the soul,  without a ray of hope—should you find yourself locked in some prison of despair—try then to voice a song. That is when it will take divine intervention to bring a song from your soul. You may mouth the words in church, but your soul will not sing until God stirs and writes the words on your heart amidst the darkness.

Habakkuk’s song in darkness of his circumstances was: Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk  3:17-18

One night, a young woman tossed in her bed, deeply discouraged. Her church was  was planning a full day of activity. But she was  sickly, and wouldn’t be able to participate. That night she struggled. She struggled with questions about her own life. She struggled with doubt and discouragement. Out of that night of despair, God gave her a poem. She wrote it that very night, never intending for anyone else to read it. The year was 1834. But in the providence of God, Charlotte Elliot’s words were published in The Invalid’s Hymn Book in 1836.  That prayer, penned in brokenness from her sickbed, has been used to touch millions of lives. Here are a few of the words of her song. “Just as I am, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bids’t me come to Thee: O Lamb of God, I come!” That was her song in the night!

Is it dark in your heart? Are you discouraged? Do you have doubts? What could God do with your sorrow if you surrendered it to Him? What could God do with your brokenness if you allowed Him to place His hand on the keyboard of your life, creating beautiful harmony out of your brokenness?

Perhaps you know the story of Horatio Spafford. He was a lawyer in Chicago during the time of the great Chicago fire. He was severely hurt financially by the fire as well as emotionally. Matters were made worse by an economic crisis that followed. Overwhelmed, and overworked, his physician advised the family to take a trip allowing them some time to recover from the trauma. They planned a trip to Europe. Just prior to time for the ship to leave, Spafford was forced to stay behind to tend to unexpected business. His family made the journey. He planned to follow. However, on the way to Europe, the ship on which his family sailed, capsized. He wasn’t sure what happened to his wife and four daughters until he received a telegram from his wife that began with these words: “Saved alone…” All four daughters perished at sea.

He arranged to board a ship to go and meet his wife. Near the scene of the tragedy, in the midst of his own heartache, Spafford penned these words: “When peace like a river attendeth my way; When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot—Thou hast taught me to say, “It is well—It is well with my soul.”

God does give songs in the night! But until He does, you can’t pump it to make it sing. You can’t force something out of your darkness that isn’t there.! However, you can pray that God would plant a song in your heart. Only God gives a song in the night!

Why are you passing through a season of darkness and despair? I don’t know. You don’t know. But trust God to know! Trust God to have an answer. Trust God to come to you in your night of despondency. Do you remember the storm on the sea?  Jesus came, walking across the water in the dead of their night, and amidst the fury of the storm.  What time was it? It was in the fourth watch of the night. It was the deadest and darkest part of the night. As they struggled, they thought the Lord would never come. But come He did! Be assured, dear Christian, He will come to you in the stormy night of your circumstances. And when He comes, He will give you a song to sing from your darkness whose melody will touch the lives of countless more!

God does give songs in the night!

Photo by Victorien Ameline

Is He Still the God Who Sees?

Are you running from something? Are you are running from something you can see, or something you can’t see? Are you running from some fear from the past, or from some fear of the future? Are you running from one relationship into another relationship?

Whether from circumstances beyond our control, or consequences resulting from our own sinful choices, life can become very complicated. It can become so complicated that we see no way out of our own personal hopelessness. That was the case for an Old Testament woman known as Hagar. Hagar enters the biblical story  as the maid of Abraham’s wife Sarah. There is no way we can know the exact circumstances in which Hagar lived. It doesn’t appear she was under any form of duress while living in the home of Abraham, until Abraham’s wife gave her the assignment of being his mistress for the purpose of becoming a surrogate mother. The child would become the child of Abraham and Sarah. It was a bad decision from the start for all parties. Once it was clear she was pregnant, Hagar felt superior to Sarah, since Sarah was barren. As a result, Sarah hated Hagar and began to treat her accordingly. Abraham, certainly not an innocent figure in the story, found himself caught between the ire of the two women in his home.

So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence. Genesis 16:1-6

It sounds like a modern day soap opera. It is hard to feel sorry for anybody. You can identify with Sarah and her animosity. After hearing the story, you might feel that Hagar ought to leave. Depending on your own personal perspective, you will either see her as the villain or the victim. However, it is not up to us to pass judgment. Instead, we need to look for the response of God. The focus of the Biblical story immediately shifts away from the main characters, Abraham and Sarah, as God turns His concern toward Hagar.

Hagar was running away. She was running away from a bad relationship. She was running away from her problems. She was running away from her past. Running away is not always the answer. Running away can make problems worse. When you run away, you don’t always know what you’re running from. Is it a person? Is it the problem? Is it something you are afraid might happen? Or is it something inside you. Hagar was running away. It is interesting to me that her name means Fleeing. Maybe that is how she dealt with things her whole life. She just ran away.

Hagar was running without purpose. She didn’t know where she was going. She was flailing her way into the future. She didn’t have a guide. She didn’t have a goal. She never considered where her steps might lead. Would things be better, or would they be worse? One bad decision often leads to another, especially when you are simply trying to run away from the consequences of the previous decision.

The Bible tells us that she stopped by a spring of water on the way to Shur. That word can mean a place of walls. She was looking for security. That sounds a lot like our word sure. In her mind, she was running toward SURE, but in fact, she was running toward uncertainty. She was running toward disaster. In fact, a later verse tells us that this well where she stopped was located between Kadesh and Bered. Kadesh means holiness and Bered means hail. In the Bible, hail is an emblem of God’s judgment. Hagar was, without knowing, running away from God. Is that where you are? Are you somewhere between holiness and judgment? As you run away from your problems, are you simply moving faster toward disaster?

Running away was not the answer. Running away would only make her problems worse. She was running away, but she didn’t know what she was running away from or where she was going. She was running away from her fears. Have you ever had that feeling of being followed—that something or someone was behind you? If Hagar continued to run, she would spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder. What will the rest of your life be like? Will you spend the rest of your life fearing the future or in fear of the past catching up with you?

Something wonderful happens in the middle of Hagar’s journey. Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. Genesis 16:7

The Angel of the Lord found her. This is one of the most mysterious figures in the Bible. In every case where the Angel of the Lord appears, He always turns out to be more than an angel. Whenever this figure appears, the person who encounters Him realizes it was an encounter with God. Some theologians believe this to be an appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. Think of that! Consider who found Hagar. He intercepted her on our journey of running away. He found her! He knew where she was. He knew her name. He knew where she had been and where she was going! He knew what was going on inside her and around her. He knew what she was running from, and what she needed to do instead of running away.

Is this the moment God has chosen to intercept you—to speak with you about where you are, where you have been and where you are going. He knows your name! He knows what you need, what you face, and what you need to do!

What are you running from? Are you running from your past? Are you running from something you see looming in the future? Jesus knows all about it. He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” Genesis 16:8

Was Hagar worthy of a visit from the Angel of the Lord? No! She was not worthy! None of us are worthy! This is God, in His grace and mercy, reaching out to a woman to express His love, to offer His direction, and to spare her from further heartache. God also reaches out to you and to me, even though we are unworthy of His attention and affection.

This turns out to be one of the most beautiful stories in the Bible. God reveals His love to Hagar. He speaks promises over her life, offering her a certain future made firm by the power of His hand. What if God is at work to do the same thing for you in your circumstances? God told Hagar to stop running. Instead, she needed to rest secure in His love, even though she would continue to face the wrath of Sarah. God was working His plan. This wouldn’t make all her problems go away, but it would allow her to experience His providential care across the journey of her life.

Out of that experience, Hagar gives God a new name. Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.Genesis 16:7-14

This often happened in the Bible when someone encountered God in such a surprising way. She called God, “El-Roi”. It means, the God who Sees.She named the well the Well of the Living One Who Sees Me. Hagar is the first woman at the well. Remember what the woman at the well in the New Testament said about Jesus. “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done.” John 14:29

She also declared Him to be a God who sees! “He could See my past. He could See into my heart. He could See where I had been and where I was going. He could See that I was thirsty. He could See that I was lonely. He could See what I needed. He could See all the wrong in me. He is the God who Saw me and yet loved me!”

He is still the God who sees! He sees you right where you are. He sees you in the midst of your need. He sees you as you deal with the consequences of bad decisions and sinful living. He sees you, and yet He loves you! He has chosen to meet you in this moment, that He might intercept your journey, and re-direct you toward a better and brighter future. The only sure thing in life is the certainty of His Sovereignty. Would you give Him the opportunity to speak His promises over your life and wrap you in the shelter of His love?

Are you running from something? Are you are running from something you can see, or something you can’t see? Are you running from some fear from the past, or from some fear of the future? Are you running from one relationship into another relationship?

The God who Sees is watching you. He knows where you are. He knows your name. He knows where you have been and where you are going. He is still the God who sees.  He is still the God who seeks to rescue us from our own decisions, from our own dilemmas, from the dread of the past, and from the dread of the future.  Hagar was, without knowing, running away from God. Is that where you are? Are you somewhere between holiness and judgment?

The God who Sees is a God who loves us so much that even when we are walking with our back toward holiness and our face toward judgment, He intercepts us on our journey, and redirects us, speaking His promises over our lives, and offering to swaddle us in His sovereignty.

Photo by Alexander Mils

 

Seasons of Discouragment

Depression is a serious illness. It isn’t a spiritual problem, although it can result from spiritual problems or any kind of discouragement.  Depression is not a sin.  It is a disease and there is a way out. 

The days are getting cooler and shorter. Some people love it. Some people dread it, and they do for good reason. They suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. The drop in the amount of sunlight causes mood changes. For some, it brings the onset of depression that may not go away without treatment. I don’t like the change in seasons. Some years ago, I began to notice that I got depressed in the fall. I know why it happens now, and I can handle it better. I look forward to the winter solstice when the days start getting longer. I dread the summer solstice when the days start getting shorter. That’s just the way I am made.

Discouragement is not always connected to the season of the year. Sometimes discouragement is connected to the seasons of life. We all begin life with a great deal of optimism. We have dreams and plans. Those can be shattered by some season of disappointment.

Disappointments can bring discouragement.

The writer of Proverbs once said: Hope deferred makes the heart sick. We all face disappointment. Our plans fail. Dreams fail to materialize, causing us to face the fact that they never will. Our hopes crumble in disappointment, leaving us heartsick and forlorn. Unfortunately, that is life. People let us down. Circumstances don’t always work out. Yet, the Bible tells us that those who believe in Jesus will never be disappointed.

What does that mean? Is it true? Life is full of disappointments. The key to battling discouragement in the wake of those moments is to keep your hope in Christ.

The Life Path you travel can bring discouragement.

Have there been events along the way of your life that brought discouragement to you.

Did discouragement invade your life when you lost your spouse? Did discouragement descend like a cloud after you lost a child? Did discouragement sap your vitality after you or someone you loved was diagnosed with a serious illness? Did discouragement embitter your life after you went through a divorce? Each of us encounter circumstances across life’s journey that can leave us deeply depressed.

The Bible tells about the journey of God’s people through the wilderness. One sentence summed up the collective feeling of the entire body. The soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. Numbers 21:4 The path they travelled led them into a season of discouragement.

In the January of 1990, our thirteen-year-old daughter was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes. One day our lives were normal. The next we were sitting in a hospital being told our daughter could never go barefooted again because a foot infection could cause her to lose a leg. We were told that in in the years to come she would have complications that could claim her vision, her kidneys, her legs or her life.  From that day forward, she would take three shots a day to just to stay alive. When I walked out of that hospital, the whole world had turned grey.  There were no colors.  Life lost its luster.  I cried every night for weeks and on and off for the next years, until a kind doctor invited us to his home and lovingly told me I was wasting her days with my grief. He told me that I should take each day as it came and not ruin today with tomorrows trouble.  Only then did my perspective change, and some of the gloom departed.  But neither my life nor my daughter’s will ever be the same as it was before January of 1990.

What event changed your life? What caused a tidal wave of despair  to come crashing into your life? Sometimes I have to be reminded that my Lord will take care of tomorrow.  My tomorrows, although beyond my control, are all under His Sovereignty. Trusting Jesus from day to day will help you in your personal season of discouragement. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  Matthew 6:34

There are times when the source of discouragement is our own separation from God.

I tell you these things by experience. I know what it is to know God’s peace. I also know what it is to be absolutely miserable because I am out of step with God. God warns us what will happen to our peace of heart when we walk distant from Him. See if the following words describe the present state of your heart. “…there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of the eyes, and despair of soul.  So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you shall be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life.  In the morning you shall say, ‘Would that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Would that it were morning!’ because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see.  Deuteronomy 28:65-67

Some of the most dismal moments I have ever experienced were during days when I was walking distant from God. Is that why you are discouraged? Is it because you have strayed from your Lord, and He has turned His face away?  There is no pill that will chase away that kind of discouragement. The only way to cure it is to come home to the Lord.

Discouragement can come when we get life out of focus.

Elijah was a mighty man of God, but a moment came when he walked out into the wilderness, lay down under a tree and prayed that he might die. Why was Elijah discouraged?  It was because Elijah had his eyes on his enemies—on his problems—and not on the Lord.

Looking to the Lord does not always make your problems go away.  However, as we keep our eyes on Him, He will give us strength to take another step forward. During days of discouragement, don’t ask to mount up with wings as eagles or to run and not be weary. Pray that God will just help you walk and not faint!

Sometimes, discouragement seems not to have a reason or a season. There are days when you know you shouldn’t be discouraged– but you are!  You know God is on your side and you shouldn’t be discouraged—but you are! You know God can help and you shouldn’t be discouraged—but you are!

Such was the situation in David’s life when he wrote Psalm 42: For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Psalm 42:4-5

David knew how he ought to feel—but he just couldn’t seem to get out from under the cloud of discouragement that had cast a shadow across his soul.

 What do you do when your discouragement won’t go away?

 It is estimated that one in ten people in the United States suffers from some form of depression. I don’t know what the statistics might be where you live. I am told that the number of people diagnosed with depression increases by 20% every year.  Discouragement can push a person over the edge into depression.   Depression is not a sin—it is a treatable illness that needs medical attention.

Rachel was one of the most godly women I have ever known.  She was the best Sunday School Teacher we had at our church.  Her husband was the author of God, If You’re Real, Let The Cow Be In The Pen When I Get Home.  She was the subject of many of his stories, and she worked tirelessly to help him market that book along with his second, Divine Appointments in the Master’s Vineyard.

Disappointment crushed her when her husband was stricken with cancer and died.  Not many months later, she lost her mother.  Rachel’s vibrant faith was rattled.  The couple lived about six miles out of town in a wooded area.  The nearest neighbor was almost a mile away.  Rachel was afraid to be alone.

Her growing discouragement gave way to depression.  She quit teaching her Sunday School Class.  This neatly dressed lady began to look unkempt.   All of these changes took place within a year of her husband’s death.  The weekend before the anniversary of her husband’s death, Rachel called her son and daughter and asked them to come home.  She prepared a meal in advance of  their arrival.  Shortly before the time they were to be home, she called a neighbor to come over to house.  She hung up the phone, took a gun, went out in her back yard to a place her neighbor would be sure to find her, and took her life.”

One year to the day after she buried her husband who died of cancer, Rachel died of depression.  Depression is a serious illness. It isn’t a spiritual problem, although it can result from spiritual problems or any kind of discouragement.  Depression is not a sin.  It is a disease and there is a way out.

In July of 2011 a dear pastor’s wife took her life. Depression is no respecter or persons or positions. It strikes the young and old. After suffering from more than one severe bout of depression, and nearing her 80th birthday, it overwhelmed her. Her husband was a godly pastor, and a strong leader. He weathered the storm outwardly, but after nearly a year of struggling with repressed guilt and the discouragement he suffered from losing his wife, depression pushed him to end his life. What did these godly people lose sight of that sent them over the edge? Maybe they forgot the one thing that kept David from falling completely apart.

 David believed that God was aware of his discouragement. 

How deep can discouragement go?  You know how deep! It can go deeper than bone and cut to the very depth of a person’s soul!  David’s did.  Maybe yours does too.  David’s hope was that God knew.  Does He know how you feel?  Yes!

If you are discouraged or depressed, it is important for you to understand that God knows.  He cares. He will act in response to your prayers. But as you pray, make sure and talk to somebody you trust. Tell them how you feel.  Ask for their prayers.  Keep your hope in God, and if discouragement comes and stays in spite of your faith and in spite of your efforts to shake it, it may be more than discouragement, it may be depression.  Remember, depression is not a sin.  It is a disease just like high blood pressure or diabetes or cancer. People die of those diseases if they don’t get medical treatment.   When discouragement pushes you over the edge into depression, you need to do more than just talk to your pastor, you need to talk to your doctor! Remember, this is a season. Hope is on the horizon. Help is on the way.

Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me.  Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God. Psalm 42:11

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The Process of Hearing From God

8 So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. ” I Kings 19:8 (NASB)

There are moments when God re-directs our journey. Some sudden, shocking, change shifts us in an unexpected direction. From our perspective, it may seem chaotic or hurtful. But from God’s perspective it is a Divine Appointment. Such a moment came in the life of Elijah, when from the spiritual high of Mount Carmel, he found himself on spiritual rock bottom at Mount Horeb. God, who was sovereign over the life of Elijah, was using circumstances, which included Elijah’s discouragement, to guide him to the place of His presence. However, although Mount Horeb had been the place where Moses experienced God at the burning bush, when Elijah arrived, there was no indication that God was present.

Hearing from God is not automatic. Just because you find yourself in a place where others testify of their own experience with God, does not guarantee you will encounter God in that place or in the same way. God is also sovereign over your journey. He will use your circumstances, including distress, discouragement, and disappointment, to guide you to the place of His presence. The timing of an encounter with God is according to His calendar and planning and not our own.

The Old Testament Temple was built on Mount Horeb, where Moses experienced God.  Horeb is where Moses received the Ten Commandments. That was also the very place God led Abraham to offer up his son, Isaac. David watched fire fall from heaven in response to his worship there, and when the foundation of the was laid on Mount Horeb and the Temple dedicated, Solomon experienced the glory of God filling the house.

During the time of Jesus, there were many things happening there, but men were not hearing from God.  Mount Horeb had been a place of God’s presence. Earthquake, fire, smoke, as well as the sound of thunder and the blast of a loud trumpet all signaled the presence of God. But when Elijah arrived at Mount Horeb, even though others experienced God there, Elijah struggled to make sense of what God was saying.

God gave Elijah no bush that burned. There was fire, but God was not in the fire. There was a mighty wind, but God was not in the wind. There was even an earthquake, but God was not in it. Initially, he had no sense of God’s guidance, direction, or even His presence.

The way of God will be unique with you. He will speak to you in His time and in His way.

First, you must make the journey into God’s presence. It took Elijah forty days and nights to get there. It will also be a journey for you. That journey might not be one of physical travel, but rather a spiritual process, by which He brings you to an awareness of His presence and guidance.

The process of hearing from God will be a process of self-examination. 

9 Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” 1 Kings 19:9-10 (NASB)

 He will cause you to examine your priorities in light of His call upon Your life.  Elijah’s focus became centered on Himself and not on God.   Though this question, God was calling Elijah to consider the real reasons for his downward spiritual spiral. “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

The first step in Elijah hearing from God was to realize his problem. What is your problem? What took you from where and what God wanted you to be, to this place and this point in your life? Elijah’s first sense of God’s voice came by way of conviction.

Elijah’s first answer to God’s examination was an excuse. It was self-pity and presumption. It was a failure to consider the providential protection God provided through his years of service.  He presumed that he alone had been through difficulty and that he alone was left a servant of God.

Make no mistake, it was not Elijah’s commitment and faith that brought him to this place. That was not the reason he was hiding in a cave. For more than forty-days, this great man of faith had been a man of doubt. This great man of courage, at least for a season, became a coward. His journey began outside the will of God, and had it not been intercepted and interrupted, it would have led to ruin.

If you expect to hear from God clearly and powerfully, you must first answer the probing question God sends to your heart concerning your own personal disobedience, your sin, and backslidden condition.  What are you doing there? Why have you come to that place in your life? Why have you done those things? Why have you deserted the assignment, the great work God gave you, and descended into bitterness and self-pity? Before I can clearly hear from God, I must answer this probing question.

The process of hearing from God will require time in God’s presence.

 That is a simplistic statement, but it is anything but simple. Many people want instant answers. If you are looking for a microwavable devotional moment in which you can pop in a question and have an answer in three minutes or less, you will be greatly disappointed. God seldom gives instant answers. It didn’t happen for Elijah, and it won’t happen for you.

11 So He said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind.         And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.  12 After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. 1 Kings 19:11-12 (NASB)

 Elijah was there on the mountain where many others experienced God. But Elijah had trouble making sense of what was happening and what God was saying. Although wind, fire, earthquake and shattered rocks left him impressed, they also left him bewildered. First, Elijah had to endure the terror of uncertainty. He had to wait it out. He had to pray it through.

Life is like that. You start seeking God, and the first thing you know there will be some tumult in your life you don’t understand. There will be events that shake you and frighten you—that leave you more bewildered than you were when your journey started. God’s word, God’s will, God’s way, will not be immediately clear. You must wait in uncertainty, until God sees fit to speak.

In all of this, the Lord was passing by, but His servant had no sense of what God was saying or doing. All of us, at one time or another, will be faced with the challenge of the mysterious. We sought out the presence of God and found instead the presence of trouble and trial. Elijah listened for God’s direction in those things, but God was in none of those things. Had he discerned them as a series of signs that affirmed his journey away from his assignment, he would have been wrong.

God had a word for Elijah, but receiving that word required him to wait through the storm. It will be the same for you. You must wait through the trial. You must wait through the long night of uncertainty, until you clearly and powerfully hear from God.

The process of hearing from God will be a time of self-examination. The process of hearing from God will also require time in God’s presence.

 The process of hearing from God will bring you to rediscover your life purpose.

 …and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1 Kings 19: 12b-13 (NASB)

 Our tendency is to look for the spectacular. That is the temptation of our enemy who would tell us that we should expect to jump from the pinnacle of the temple and have God catch us. He would deceive us and make us believe that God has not spoken unless there has been an accompanying spectacular event like fire or earthquake. But there in that place known for these things, God chose to speak in a different way. Instead, Elijah heard from God in a still, small, voice. My Bible reads “a gentle blowing.” Other translations read, “A gentle whisper.”

One of the ways we know we are hearing from God is that it will be consistent with what He said to us in the past. What was it Elijah heard when he arrived at Horeb?  He heard the question of self-examination: “What are you doing here Elijah?”  And what was it he heard in that voice of gentle whisper? He heard that same question again! God asked him the same thing. “What are you doing here Elijah?” This time, God was prompting Elijah to grapple with his life purpose.

“Why was it I called you?  What was it I sent you to do?”  Is God asking you those same questions? You too have a place in God’s purpose. The still, small voice of God will not allow you to forget what He called you to do.

Not only was the question repeated—but Elijah’s answer is repeated in verse 14, this time in a humbler way as Elijah recalls his passion.

14 Then he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” 1 Kings 19:14 (NASB)

 The process of hearing from God will be a time of self-examination. The process of hearing from God will also require time in God’s presence. The process of hearing from God will bring you to rediscover your life purpose.

Finally, the process of hearing from God will demand a return to your former passion.

In giving his answer to God, Elijah recounts his passion. He reminds God, as well as himself of the man he had been. He remembers the man of faith and courage he once was. He was at Mount Horeb because he abandoned that mission and would rather die than return to it. But God intercepted and interrupted his journey outside the will of God, bringing him to the place of His presence, and causing him to grapple with the sin of his departure in order to bring him back in touch with the true song of his soul.

With two words God sent him back to his role as a prophet. They come in verse 15.  The Lord said to him, “Go return.”With those words came a new mission and a reminder that however alone he felt in this sinful world, he was not alone. It was not Elijah’s job to salvage the Jewish faith. It is not our job to salvage the Christian faith from the jaws of paganism. God preserves a people committed to Himself. You will never be alone.

If Elijah was faithful to his mission, God would be faithful to provide others to stand with him in his journey. It was through this journey, that God gave him a new disciple, Elisha, who loved him more than he loved his own parents, and so looked up to him that he prayed for a double portion of the spirit that God had placed on Elijah.

The same God who was sovereign over Elijah’s downward spiral, engineering his return will work in a similar fashion in your life. Has chosen to use this message as His gentle whisper to your heart? Perhaps reading this is part of the spiritual process by which He is bringing you to an awareness of His presence and guidance.

What are you doing here Elijah?

Photo by Nastya Maxymova

The Valley of Sorrow

Some experience of life will inevitably leave you “deeply emptied” and passing through the valley of sorrow. In that experience you will come to the end of your own strength. It may come at the hands of some trial or trouble, or some personal physical weakness, or even some spiritual calamity that leaves you face down in defeat after some battle with the enemy of your soul. In that valley of sorrow, you will come to know and depend on God alone.

A few days ago, a twenty-two-year-old young man lost his battle with cancer. His dad sent me a message telling me he died a “good and glorious death” with his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But he leaves behind a grieving family that somehow must continue to walk through life in spite of their sorrow. This week, I have another friend who is beginning his own battle with cancer. He is sixty-seven. Both of these families have a strong faith. They model that faith in their valley of sorrow.

The road that passes through the valley of sorrow is a very old road. For millennia, people have passed that way. Their experiences are all different. However, families of faith who pass through that valley, leave behind a legacy for others who will follow.

In the Old Testament, one such valley is mentioned. It is called the Valley of Baca. Baca means weeping. The verses themselves describes the experience of those who pass through that valley.

5 How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion! 6 Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring; The early rain also covers it with blessings. 7 They go from strength to strength, every one of them appears before God in Zion. Psalm 84:5-7 (NASB)

 First, we are not able to face sorrow in our own strength.

How strong are you? I know how strong I used to be—or thought I was.I prided myself on my ability to endure—to outlast. But I have learned that time takes a toll on a person’s strength. With every passing year you are less the person that you were. Circumstances also take a toll on a person’s strength. With every problem laid upon your shoulders, your load becomes heavier and heavier, until finally your strength buckles under the load. Likewise, Sorrow takes a toll on a person’s strength. Your emotional muscles can only handle so much, and then you reach your breaking point when you can handle no more. Sin takes a toll on a person’s strength—weakens you—infects your life– until it eats away your spiritual self-confidence, and you learn your heart is deceitful above all else and desperately sick. Life takes a toll on a person’s strength until you find you have no strength at all. That is why the Psalmist wrote: “How blessed is the man whose strength is in You.”

“I am bold to say, from Scripture and from experience, that no man ever felt or ever knew, spiritually and experimentally, what it was to put his trust and confidence in God, who had not been deeply emptied, one whose strength had been turned into weakness, his wisdom into folly, and his loveliness into corruption.” J. C. Philpot 1846

Some experience of life will inevitably leave you “deeply emptied” and passing through the valley of sorrow. In that experience you will come to the end of your own strength. It may come at the hands of some trial or trouble, or some personal physical weakness, or even some spiritual calamity that leaves you face down in defeat after some battle with the enemy of your soul. In that valley of sorrow, you will come to know and depend on God alone.

Second, the sorrows we face in this life, though a part of our journey, are not our destination.

 This verse has reference to those who were walking the long road to Jerusalem. They were pilgrims on their way to worship. It was not always an easy journey. Baca may refer to a location passed through during their pilgrimage. Perhaps it was a place of great difficulty and great danger, but in this Psalm, Baca refers to the tears shed by those who pass through perilous times. They were on their way to an earthly city, but their hearts were aimed heavenward. They possessed a hope beyond this life. Like Abraham, they were looking for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God for He has prepared a city for them. Hebrews 11:16 (NASB)

Zion is an earthly place. Zion is also a heavenly place—a place to which we have never been, but the road there is marked in our heart. That road to heaven begins at the foot of the cross of Jesus, and the way from there is simple. We simply follow Jesus who said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh to the Father but by Me. John 14:6 (NASB)

Are the highways to Zion in your heart? Have you set your heart on a pilgrimage? People of faith are, as the old hymn says, “marching to Zion.”  In your heart, you are marching to Zion, even though your feet may be locked behind prison doors. In your heart, you are marching to Zion, even though you may be trapped in a crippled body. You travel the roads to Zion when you pray, when you worship, when you open the pages of Scripture. Your heart is on pilgrimage. Jesus is the True North of your soul, and your heart, like a compass, always turns toward Him.

Your journey of following Jesus may take you through the Valley of Baca. Some people experience trial and judge God by the fact of their trial. I have a burden, so I must not have His blessing. I have a sickness, so I must not have His spirit. I have a problem, so I must not have His Presence. Others experience trial comforted that they have the promise of God’s presence. Even though they pass through difficulty, even though their soul is pressed by problems and their eyes are filled with tears, they look for God’s presence, for God’s providence, and God’s peace in the midst of that trial.  And they find it!  I should say they find HIM!

Third, people of faith, though passing through the valley of sorrow, leave their mark on that valley, making it easier for others who pass that way.

 Their testimony is that even though they experienced trial, trouble and sorrow, they also experienced God’s Presence. As bitter as their trouble was, the comfort they received from God was sweeter and more precious, so that the valley is to be remembered not so much as the place where they met trouble, but the place where they met God. My friends, who I mentioned earlier will meet God in their valley of sorrow. In the days ahead, I will hear the story of God’s incredible strength that enabled them to pass through that valley. Are you in that Valley?  Are you looking for God there?

The Psalmist said that these people who travel through the valley of sorrow make it a place of springs. How is that so? When pilgrims passed through this difficult valley on their way to Jerusalem, sometimes it was made difficult from scorching heat or blowing dust. At other times, when passing through that valley, they faced sickness or sorrow. They were forced to stop there. Out of necessity, they dug a well in this dry, parched valley. Time after time, pilgrim after pilgrim, trial after trial, they dug well after well, until the time came when that desolate place became a place of springs. Those who travelled that way after them would find refreshment there, because a brother or a sister had travelled that road,and while there, dug a well.

If you are walking through a dark valley, and if in that valley the Lord meets you, and refreshes you, are you not equipped to come to someone else in that same valley and offer them the refreshment that you received from God? That has been true in my own life. There have been moments when I faced a season of difficulty that seemed to me as dark as midnight. It seemed to me as if I would never find my way. Then, some person would come alongside me and say, “Brother, I’ve sat where you sit.” And they told me of their own time in that dark valley and how God brought them out. And though their light brought only a spark to my darkness, it was a spark from the heart of God. And though it was only  a small, weak, refreshment, I was so thirsty for a single drop of His mercy that I found myself grateful beyond words!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NASB)

In my bondage, He is my Deliverer! In my weakness, He is my Strength! In my sickness, He is my Healer! On my deathbed, He is the Resurrection and the Life! In my sorrow, He is my Comfort! In my darkness, He is my Light! In the guilt of my sin, in Him is Redemption through His blood the Forgiveness of my sin! In my lostness, He is my Savior! In the face of my greatest fears, He is my Hiding place! In my storm, He is my Shelter! In my poverty, He is my Provider! At my wits end, He is my Hope! When I am not who I ought to be, He is still I AM WHO I AM! He is the God of all comfort—the God who is always there and always cares!

These are the people who the Psalmist says are blessed. Their  strength is in God. They passed through the Valley of Baca and found God’s refreshment there.  They become a fountain of refreshment for others.

 “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.” Isaiah 41:17-18 (NASB)

At one time or another, all of God’s children will pass through the Valley of Baca—the Valley of Sorrow.

As I pray for my friends today who are passing through the valley of sorrow, I also pray for those of you who may read these words. Remember, all of the experiences of this life are transitory. Whatever it is you face, God will bring an end to it.  There is another side. There is a brighter day. If you are passing through the valley of sorrow, even that valley is the place of God’s presence.I know that it is a place of darkness. I know it is a place of discouragement. But it is also holy ground. The desolate wilderness is where Moses met God at the burning bush. The lions’ den became the home for angels in the time of Daniel.The fiery furnace, where three Hebrew children thought they would meet their end, is where they met one like unto the Son of God standing with them in the fire.

May God be with you as you pass through the valley of sorrow!

Photo by Madhu Shesharam

 

From the End of the Earth

Where is God when you are in one of those end of the earth moments? Can He hear you? Can He see you? Does He know? Does He care?

Have you ever been away from your own country—on the other side of the world—distant from friends and family, with no way to call home? In 1981, I travelled to the jungle of Ecuador. There were no phones. Finally, we found a ham radio operator who was able to help us connect with home. That was such a lonely feeling. In a place like that, it is easy to get overcome with a feeling of homesickness and an overwhelming uncertainty about those you left behind. You can be surrounded by people and at the same time feel as if you are at the end of the earth.

You don’t have to be far from home to have a sense of being at the end of the earth. We often use that expression to describe how we feel when pressed by some crisis or difficulty. While reading Psalm 61, I found that David used that very expression to describe his feelings to God.

Hear my cry, O God; Give heed to my prayer.  2 From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.   3 For You have been a refuge for me, a tower of strength against the enemy.   4 Let me dwell in Your tent forever; Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Psalm 61:1-4 (NASB)

It is easy to tell from David’s words that He is praying. Prayer can be a very spiritual thing. You can go on a prayer retreat. You can go to a prayer meeting. Or you can just bow your head wherever you are and ask for God’s blessing or guidance.

David was praying, but he was not at a prayer meeting. . David was praying. He was not praying because he had the opportunity. David was praying out of necessity.

There is an earnestness and an intensity about the way David approached God.. But it was when I read the words, “From the end of the earth I call to You” that I identified with David. I was facing circumstances of my own that left me feeling as if I was at the end of the earth.

David is not giving God his location. He is crying out to God concerning some problem or difficulty. Maybe you know what it is like to feel that you are at the end of the earth emotionally or spiritually.

To be sure, “the end of the earth” describes a place that is far away. But David means more than that. He is not pinpointing his location physically. He is not talking about geography. He is talking about something else.

Geography is not a problem with God. You don’t need a cell phone or a ham radio to contact Him. He is never so far away that He is not able to hear your prayer, even if you are at the end of the earth.  But David is not talking about his location.

For David, the End of the Earth was a Place of Deep Desperation.

He was in some kind of trouble. He had some kind of problem. Perhaps he was dealing with discouragement.  Whatever it was, it left him feeling like he was at the end of the earth.

I will never forget receiving word that a man’s daughter had been in a serious accident. Her two boys were in the car with her. She and the youngest boy were killed instantly. The oldest boy received head injuries so severe, he would never be the same. What I remember most about that day is going to her sister’s home. I was in my early twenties and really didn’t have the skills that I needed to know what to say in a time like that. I don’t know that I do now decades later. I did my best to comfort her, but I said the worst thing I could have said in the horror of the moment. I said, “It’s not the end of the world.” And then she said, “Oh, but it is… oh but it is!” And  it was. She was at the end of the earth. It was a place of helplessness, hopelessness and loneliness. Grief leaves us feeling at the end of the earth, or as she said that day, “the end of the world.”

That is the way David uses this expression. David was praying. But he was praying from the end of the earth—from some set of extreme circumstances that made him feel like it was the end of the world. Is that where you are today? Has something happened, or is something going on that makes you feel like it is the end of your world? Then you can identify with David when he cried, “From the end of the earth I call to You!”

I did a little research to see how many times this same expression is used in the Bible. One of the things that became clear to me as I researched that phrase, is that God is concerned about all the ends of the earth, whether that be a geographical location and a people group that lives there, or a place of personal distress.

For David, the End of the Earth was a Place of  Deep Personal Weakness

He said, “From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint…”

Have you ever wanted to give up? Have you ever wanted to go to sleep and not wake up? Have you ever been so tired and so discouraged you thought you couldn’t make it through another day? Then you understand the heart of David. David described his heart as faint. It means to be overwhelmed. Have you ever received a phone call with bad news? Do you know what it is to have your heart sink or to feel weak from grief or shock? This is the feeling David describes. It was the end of the world. He was overwhelmed. Is that where you are?

Where is God when you are in one of those end of the earth moments? Can He hear you? Can He see you? Does He know? Does He care? Yes! David also believed that! From the end of the earth, he called out to God when all his strength was gone!

Perhaps you know the story of what happened to the Biblical character Jonah. Jonah disobeyed God. As a result of his disobedience, Jonah found himself in one of those end of the world moments.  He ran from God’s will for his life. He was determined to get as far away from God as he could. He boarded a ship that was bound for the edge of the known world of that day. He wound up a little farther away from God than he expected. He was tossed from the ship and swallowed by a giant fish who took him on a trip to the bottom of the ocean. What David, in his prayer, called the end of the earth, Jonah called the Belly of Sheol or the Belly of Hell.

 Then Jonah prayed to the Lordhis God from the stomach of the fish,and he said, “I called out of my distress to the Lord, And He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice. “For You had cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me. “So I said, ‘I have been expelled from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ “Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, Weeds were wrapped around my head. “I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars wasaround me forever, But You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lordmy God. “While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple. Jonah 2:1-7 (NASB)

This was one of those end of the earth moments for Jonah. It was the end of the world. The end of the earth can be the most far away place I can think of. It can and often does refer to geography. It can be a place of deep desperation—an end of the world moment. It can be a place of deep personal weakness—when a person has had about all they can stand and is ready to give in and give up.

In the Case of Jonah, the End of the Earth Was a Place of Great Distance from God.

 Jonah was about as far away from God as a man can be and live to tell about it. Because of his disobedience he was in a place of God appointed difficulty. Has that ever happened to you? In fact, aren’t some of you at an end of the earth place in your life because of your sin? Isn’t it true that God has brought difficulty into your life because of your sin and you know it. You are not just at the end of the earth—not just at wits end—like Jonah you feel as if you are in the Belly of Hell with no escape.

David and Jonah have one thing in common. That place of dark despair became a place from which each of them took opportunity to seek God. They prayed. David prayed from his predicament and Jonah prayed from His. The good news is that God was listening. Do you suppose He will listen to you?

If you look back at David’s prayer in Psalm 61:2 you will find that he made one simple request. He prayed: Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I!

This is a very simple prayer, but it is full of dependence on God. David asked God to lead him to the Rock. It was obviously a place David couldn’t find on his own. He needed to someone to lead him. Would you be willing to admit your personal need for God’s guidance in the midst of your circumstances?

Both David and Jonah realized that they were in circumstances they couldn’t escape on their own. They needed God’s help. One of the greatest moments of a person’s life is the moment the person begins to realize he or she needs God. As David prayed, he was acknowledging, “God, my only way out is You.” Can you admit that to God today?.

The Rock, to which David prayed to be led was a place of safety and security David could not provide for Himself. He needed the help and protection of God. He needed to be saved. David needed to be saved from his circumstances. Jonah needed to be saved from his sin.  Both David and Jonah found themselves sinking. They were in desperate need of the solid security of God’s own saving presence. It was God Himself that Both David and Jonah Needed.  Jonah said, “I have been expelled from Your sight, Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.  Jonah 2:4  (NASB)

That is repentance. That is turning to God from the end of the earth. David said, “From the end of the earth I call to You.”

The end of the earth is the most far-away place I can think of. It can be a place of deep despair. It can be a place of deep personal weakness–a place where a person is ready to give in and give up. It can also be a place of distance from God or even a place of difficulty designed by God because of our sin.

I assume if you are still reading, you also identify with David’s words. You are at some end of the earth place feeling out of God’s reach yet desperate for God’s help. What is God saying to you?

Allow me to share with  who are at the end of the earth  the following words from the book of Deuteronomy.

If..you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. Deuteronomy 30:2-4 (NASB)

Now pray, and prepare to be delivered!

 

Photo by Frederik Löwe

 

Soul-Troubling Sorrow

I have a vivid memory of walking with the family into the cemetery. The tiny coffin that contained the body of the baby was cradled in the arms of that grandfather and carried to the graveside.

Following Christ does not insulate you from trouble. In fact, trouble comes to all believers. When troubles come, they vary in intensity. Trouble can impact us financially, it can impact us physically, and it can also impact us spiritually. Life brings seasons of soul-troubling sorrow. I have faced those seasons in my own life. I have a daughter who is a severe diabetic and wears an insulin pump twenty-four hours a day. I have another daughter who has epilepsy and suffers from dozens of seizures daily. On one hand, you might consider those their problems and not my own. However, if you are a parent, and your children have medical issues, you know the questions, the concerns, the helplessness, as well as the sense of hopelessness it brings. When I speak of soul-troubling sorrow, I speak from personal experience.

In one of my seasons of soul-troubling sorrow, my heart was touched by the story of a woman who lived in the days of the prophet Elisha. He was a man whose character separated him from the ordinary men of his day.  His life was marked by the miraculous. In the Old Testament, the presence of a prophet brought a person a special connection with God. Therefore, a person seeking God, or direction from God, would seek God’s prophet.

In the little town of Shunem, lived a precious couple who opened their home to Elisha. He passed their home often while on assignment for God. The woman of the house had a strong sense of spiritual discernment. Whenever Elisha passed that way, she always provided him a meal. She realized there was something special about Elisha. So, as an act of kindness, they added a little upper room to their house as a resting place for Elisha from his journeys. In that room, they placed a bed, a table, and a lampstand.  Whenever he came, the woman of the home prepared him food. By opening their home to Elisha, they opened their home to the blessing of God.

For her service to God through ministering to God’s prophet, she became a recipient of a very special promise from God.  2 Kings 4:11-17 tell us of that promise and its fulfillment.

 11One day he came there and turned in to the upper chamber and rested. 12Then he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” And when he had called her, she stood before him. 13He said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Behold, you have been careful for us with all this care; what can I do for you? Would you be spoken for to the king or to the captain of the army?’” And she answered, “I live among my own people.” 14So he said, “What then is to be done for her?” And Gehazi answered, “Truly she has no son and her husband is old.” 15He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the doorway. 16Then he said, “At this season next year you will embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord, O man of God, do not lie to your maidservant.”  17The woman conceived and bore a son at that season the next year, as Elisha had said to her.  2 Kings 8:11-17 (NASB)

 God rewards faithfulness, and He rewarded this faithful woman with the blessing of a son.  Across the years, Elisha came to know and love this family, as well as the child God brought into their home.

As time passed, the child grew from a babe to a young boy.  Then came a tragic day when a season of soul-troubling sorrow came into the life of this mother.  In her response to that sorrow, I find some principles that help me grapple with seasons of soul-troubling sorrow in my own life.

18When the child was grown, the day came that he went out to his father to the reapers. 19He said to his father, “My head, my head.” And he said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her lap until noon, and then died.  2 Kings 4:18-20 (NASB)

In those three short verses, we learn of the sorrow that crushed the heart of this dear servant of God.  In those days, the only medicine a sick child often received was the love of a mother.  When a child is very sick, you can sometimes feel the fever rise as you hold it in your arms. I can imagine her feelings of helplessness as she rocked back and forth with this boy in her arms, sensing, as only mothers can do, that his life was about to slip away.

Down through the years, I watched godly men and women as they struggled through their own seasons of sorrow.  In that moment when circumstances are beyond your control, and when the solution is out of your reach, the character of a person’s faith is revealed.   Observe how this dear, broken-hearted mother grappled with her sorrow.

21She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door behind him and went out.  2 Kings 4:21 (NASB)

What was it about the bed of Elisha that made this mother choose that spot rather than the bed of the child or that of her own?  It is likely that this woman spent many nights in her own bed, listening to Elisha, as he made his bedside an altar where he called on the Lord.  She claimed that bed in the prophet’s chamber as an altar of her own, and she laid the body of her son before the Lord. Thus we discover our first principle of dealing with soul-troubling sorrow:

Lay that trouble before the Lord.

 She laid her son on the bed of Elisha, and she shut the door behind her.  She was not closing her eyes to the trouble that invaded her life.  She was committing it to the care of the ONLY ONE she knew who could help in her hour of need.

This was the first thing she did.  Before she made steps to do anything else, or made requests of anyone else, she laid the body of her son on the bed of the prophet and shut the door. She laid her trouble before the Lord and committed her broken heart, as well as the body of her boy, into His care.

Unless you have faced the heart-throbbing crush of some tremendous crisis, you can’t fully enter into the next verses.  They reveal an urgency, concealed by a composure, designed to protect others in that home whose faith might not be as strong as her own.

22Then she called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and return.” 23He said, “Why will you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor sabbath.” And she said, “It will be well.”  2 Kings 4:22-23 (NASB)

She approached her husband and requested a servant and a donkey that would provide her the opportunity to run to the man of God and return. Apparently, she never shared with him that their son was dead.  And so, when he quizzed her about why she needed to go without the presence of some special occasion, she soothed his concern with “It will be well”.

Those words reflected a deep faith in her own heart, as well as a desire to protect the heart of her husband from the distress that raged within her.  It is from those words, that I draw a second principle on dealing with soul-troubling sorrow:  First, you lay it before the Lord. Second:

Wrap That Trouble in a Cocoon of Faith and Hide it from the World.

 I have learned this from some great saints of God who were passing through periods of intense sorrow.  I have seen them wrap their sorrow in a cocoon of faith, so that if you met them on the street or if you stood beside them as they faced their tragedy or their trouble, you would never know the pain in their heart.  They become to all around them what this woman was to her husband. The influence of her faith was a calming influence, even though a storm was raging in her heart. She said to her husband. Everything is all right.  It will be well.

I have a dear friend who is a pastor. On one occasion, a grandbaby died. The little couple was crushed, as were the grandparents. I watched my pastor friend preach the funeral of that little baby. He consoled his family and the community, even as his own heart was breaking. I have a vivid memory of walking with the family into the cemetery. The tiny coffin that contained the body of the baby was cradled in the arms of that grandfather and carried to the graveside. He also shared words of comfort for the rest of us that day. He was telling us that all would be well

As this dear mother spoke those words, it was as if she was reminding herself, as well as those around her, that in the midst of her sorrow and heartache, God was in complete control. She laid her trouble before the Lord and left it in His care.

24Then she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, “Drive and go forward; do not slow down the pace for me unless I tell you.” 25So she went and came to the man of God to Mount Carmel.  2 Kings 4:24-25 (NASB)

She left the presence of her husband, in whose presence she was been calm and collected, and entered the presence of the servant with an intensity that exemplified the urgency in her heart.  There was no time to waste!  Every ounce of energy must be given to get to the man of God!  When she found him, she would be in the presence of one who could represent her before the Lord.  In her moment of soul-troubling sorrow, she sought the Lord.

This leads me to the third principle of dealing with soul-troubling sorrow: First, lay that trouble before the Lord. Second, wrap it in a cocoon of faith and hide it from the world. Third:

 Seek God With Great Earnestness and Urgency.

 Her faith was reflected in the presence of men with a calm and collected confidence. But the faith of her feet was reflected by the great earnestness and urgency with which she sought the Lord.

 When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Behold, there is the Shunammite. 26“Please run now to meet her and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’” And she answered, “It is well.”  2 Kings 4:25b-26 (NASB)

 Once again, attempting to hold her composure against the great burden that weighed heavy on her heart, she approached the prophet.  She repeated the words she had spoken earlier to her husband. This was not a lie because she laid her trouble before the Lord. She placed her child on that bed that where Elisha had prayed and wept before the Lord.  Now, her own tears had been poured out upon that altar, and the love of that mother’s heart lay there in the keeping of the Lord. Her spirit was willing to keep all that grief contained within the cocoon of faith, but when she saw Elisha she could contain herself no longer, and she fell at his feet.

 27When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came near to push her away; but the man of God said, “Let her alone, for her soul is troubled within her; and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.” 28Then she said, “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”  2 Kings 4:27-28 (NASB)

 This leads us to our fourth principle for dealing with soul-troubling sorrow: First, lay that trouble before the Lord. Second, wrap that trouble in a cocoon of faith and hide it from the world. Third, seek the Lord with great earnestness and urgency. Fourth:

Cling in Faith to the Feet of your Savior.

 By coming to Elisha she was coming to God. By clinging to the feet of Elisha, she was throwing her arms around the feet of her Savior.  All her hopes were in God.  She knew that her only help was in God. She didn’t need to go all over town spreading her sorrow from place to place and person to person.   There was only One who could help.  There was only One who could bear the deep sorrow of her soul! By coming to Elisha, she was coming to gain the help of God!

Sensing what happened, Elisha dispatched Gehazai with his own staff in his hand.

29Then he said to Gehazi, “Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand, and go your way; if you meet any man, do not salute him, and if anyone salutes you, do not answer him; and lay my staff on the lad’s face.” 30The mother of the lad said, “As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” And he arose and followed her.  2 Kings 4:29-30 (NASB)

 Gehazi is not who she came for! She didn’t want the help of Elisha’s servant.  She wanted Elisha!  This leads us to our fifth principle for dealing with soul-troubling sorrow:

 Settle for no Substitutes.

 In the Old Testament, you turned to God’s Servant the prophet to turn to God.  Gehazi was the servant of God’s servant.  He was not God’s representative.  The woman needed God, not a substitute! In sorrow, you need more than a minister. You need Christ Himself!  Lay your trouble before Him.  Wrap your trouble in a cocoon of faith and shield it from the world.  Seek the face of your Lord with great earnestness and urgency.  Cling in faith to the feet of the ONE who alone is a very present help in time of trouble.   Like Jacob of old, cling to Him, and don’t let Him go until you find the blessing you need.

 31Then Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff on the lad’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he returned to meet him and told him, “The lad has not awakened.”  2 Kings 4:31 (NASB)

 Elisha sent Gehazi with his staff which was the symbol of his own authority.  Gehazi was going in the name of Elisha, but Gehazi’s  going produced no results.  This was not Gehazi’s assignment.  It belonged to Elisha.  Some assignments are yours alone.  You can’t be represented by another.  God has a mission for you.

32When Elisha came into the house, behold the lad was dead and laid on his bed. 33So he entered and shut the door behind them both and prayed to the LORD. 34And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth and his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands, and he stretched himself on him; and the flesh of the child became warm. 35Then he returned and walked in the house once back and forth, and went up and stretched himself on him; and the lad sneezed seven times and the lad opened his eyes.  2 Kings 4:32-35 (NASB)

This was an assignment that couldn’t be completed by sending a representative.  Elisha had to go!  Elisha had to shut the door!  Elisha had to pray!  Elisha had to touch the dead boy’s body!  Elisha had to enter into the woman’s grief! And there beside that bed, where he often prayed for God to do the miraculous, Elisha asked God to do what only He could do!

The lad was dead! The little boy, who made that home all the more delightful to Elisha, was dead!  Could Elisha raise the dead?  No! But as he prayed, he tried every method that he knew.  Elisha’s efforts represent his own earnestness to help this boy by whatever method he could, even if it meant somehow imparting life to him from his own body. Elisha’s efforts and his patience point to the persistence of his own faith in seeking God to do what was beyond the reach of any man.

The story has a wonderfully happy ending.

36He called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, “Take up your son.” 37Then she went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground, and she took up her son and went out.  2 Kings 4:36-37 (NASB)

Here is a woman who laid her trouble before the Lord, wrapped it in the cocoon of her faith, sought her Lord with great earnestness and urgency, who clung with faith to the feet of her Savior, neither seeking nor accepting any substitute.  She found her Lord to be able and faithful.  We learn from her one final principle of handling soul-troubling sorrow:

Regardless of the Outcome Find an Occasion For Worship.

Once again, she fell at Elisha’s feet. It was an expression of her deep gratitude to God for what He had done. All of life’s sorrows don’t have fairy tale endings. Our fortunes are not always restored. The sick are not always healed. Sorrow is not always turned to joy. But whatever the outcome, saints of God down through the ages have been able to find an occasion to honor and worship God in the midst of their deepest sorrow.

Horatio Spafford was a successful lawyer in Chicago. His finances were devastated by the Chicago fire in 1871. A poor economy in 1873 made things even worse. After that, he and his family planned a trip to Europe. Business concerns kept him from making the trip with his family. He planned to join them later. However, the ship on which they travelled sank. He learned by telegram that four of his daughters died. On his way to meet his wife, the ship on which he sailed came near the spot where his daughters perished. He wrote the following words: When peace like a river attendeth my way; When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, “It is well, It is well with my soul.”

The words and actions of the Biblical character Job after he lost all he had, including his children, were these:

 Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said :  “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”  Job 1:20-21 (NASB)

Even in his sorrow, Job found an occasion for worship. Now, how should you handle the soul-troubling sorrow that has invaded your life? Lay your trouble before the Lord. Wrap that trouble in a cocoon of faith and hide it from the world. Seek God with great earnestness and urgency. Cling in faith to the feet of your Savior. Accept no substitutes. Finally, regardless of the outcome, find an occasion for worship. May the God who proved Himself to this dear woman also prove Himself to you!

Photo by Samuel Martins

Principles of Trusting God’s Leadership

When God calls us to follow, the way isn’t always easy. God has His reasons for taking us down the road of difficulty. When He does, we must obediently follow. If we are to follow Him, we must trust Him. We must trust Him at all times and under all circumstances. 

One Sunday, I sat down on the platform of my church in panic mode. I was anxiously flipping through my Bible. I wasn’t looking for a sermon. I was looking for a word from the Lord for me. That Sunday morning, I felt like the whole world was crashing down on me. I opened my Bible to the first Psalm I could find and began to read. My eyes fell on Psalm 62:8.  Trust in the Lord at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him.

That verse sank deep into my heart. Trust in the Lord at all times. I was to trust Him in the good and in the bad. I was to trust in the calm moments and even when my heart was in panic mode. That morning, I poured out my heart in desperate silence, as a whole congregation looked on. I had to preach, but I wanted to just run.

When God calls us to follow, the way isn’t always easy. God has His reasons for taking us down the road of difficulty. When He does, we must obediently follow. If we are to follow Him, we must trust Him. We must trust Him at all times and under all circumstances.  The key to recognizing God’s leadership is confident trust and step by step obedience. The moment you fail to trust Him, is the moment you will fail to follow.

Allow me to share with you some principles of trusting God’s leadership. As a biblical basis for these principles, I refer you to the experience of the Israelites as they fled Egypt.

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter.  For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea…  By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.  Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.  13:17-18a; 21-22 (NASB)

Did God lead the children of Israel to leave Egypt?  Yes! It was clearly a directive from the Lord! They were powerfully delivered. God’s hand was all over their journey. But that journey was not without difficulty. In fact, God led them into difficulty.  He also steered them away from other difficulties He knew their hearts were not ready to face.

There was no denying the fact of God’s leadership, and He purposefully directed them to the Red Sea.  Has your journey of following God brought you to a Red Sea place in your life?

The only thing that will keep you following God when your way grows difficult, is the absolute certainty that you followed God to that place. You must know, as you stand in the face of difficulty, that you are standing in the center of His will.  Therefore, on the front end of any decision you make, you must:

Establish firmly in your heart the fact of God’s leadership.

Before you begin your journey, there are some very important questions you must settle up front.  Can you trust God’s leadership?  Will He lead you wisely and safely and securely?  Is it safe to follow God?  Can you travel with confidence the road He has marked for you to travel?

That God does lead His people has been established.  But can YOU trust His leadership?  You will never go with God until that question has been settled! The way God leads you will not always be a way of success, or prosperity, or comfort. It may be a way of great difficulty. Because of the trials you face as you travel that road, you may be tempted to abandon your journey.

As you look down the road God is asking you to travel, you may envision some of those difficulties. When God called the children of Israel to go forward by faith into the Promised Land, a group of men came back with a report of certain difficulties that would make their obedience impossible.  The result of their disobedience cost the entire nation forty years in the wilderness.

This brings up another important consideration:

Never base your decision to follow God on what you know up front.

 God’s leadership is based on His foreknowledge.  That means that there are some things God knows that you don’t.  When God calls you to do something, every factor that needs to be taken into consideration for you to answer His call has already been taken into consideration.

The Bible clearly says that God didn’t lead them by the shorter route because He already knew how they would respond should they encounter war.  He knows what we can handle and what we can’t!  God also knew in advance how Pharaoh would respond.

Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’  And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them… Exodus14:3-4a (NASB)

 When God speaks to you about an assignment you must trust His foreknowledge over the difficulties you see as you consider your obedience. An example of this comes from the New Testament when Jesus asked Philip where they would get bread to feed thousands of people.  Jesus asked, “Where are we to buy bread that these may eat?”  Philip was at a loss!  He knew they would never be able to afford that much bread, and he said so.  But the Bible said Jesus was testing him because He Himself already knew what He was intending to do.  (John 6:5-6)

When the Lord gives you an assignment, don’t ask questions! Obey!  Don’t ponder the difficulties!  Take a step of faith. Never base your decision to follow God on what you know.  Follow God’s leadership even if it defies your own logic.  God knows something that you don’t.

Camped at God’s command between the armies of Pharaoh and the Red Sea, the children of Israel appeared helpless.  But God was on a mission.

I will gain glory for Myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.  14:4 (NASB) God knew exactly what He was doing.

Let’s review our first two principles of trusting God’s leadership. First, establish firmly in your heart the fact of God’s leadership. Second, never base your decision to follow God on what you know up front.

Never question your sense of God’s Leadership due to difficulties you may encounter along the way.

When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”  So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him;  and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the otherchariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly.  Then the Egyptians chased after them withall the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.  As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD.  Exodus 14:5-10 (NASB)

While following God’s leadership, nothing ever overtakes us to the surprise of God.  God sees it coming and has a plan to deal with our difficulty before we ever become aware it exists. Does God know the difficulties that you face today? Did those difficulties come as a result of following His leadership? Can you trust that He saw those difficulties before He sent you?  Then don’t question God’s leadership because of your difficulties. Trust God in the face of them.

The children of Israel weren’t ready to do that.  They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have brought us to the desert to die?  What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to  you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone’ let us serve the Egyptians’?  It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert. Exodus 14:11-12 (NASB)

Is it ever better to stay where you are than to follow God?  Even though they were in a period of great difficulty they were right in the midst of God’s activity!  You may be following God, and you suddenly find yourself face to face with some great trial, all because you followed Him. Is God able to handle the difficulties that we encounter as a result of following Him?  This is one of the questions that you must settle your mind before you begin the journey.

There are three questions that you need to settle about the situation that you face today:  First, did God lead?  Are you where you are as a result of following God? Second, does God know? Was He fully aware of this difficulty when your journey began? Third, is God able? Can He handle what you are facing? Difficulties arise even when we are following God and standing in the center of His will. For that reason you must:

Always seek a word from God in the face of your difficulty.

Moses and the people faced an impossible situation that arose as a result of following God.  How were they to respond?  What they needed was a word from God. That word came in Exodus 14:13-15.  They received three commands.

But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.  “The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.”   Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.  Exodus 14:13-15 (NASB)

Allow me to isolate those three commands. The first two came from Moses. He had a very clear sense of God’s leadership. Therefore, he was able to encourage his people.

The first command was “Fear Not!” C. H. MacIntosh, a Bible Scholar who lived in the 19th century, wrote: “Fear leads us to interpret God in the presence of the difficulty, instead of interpreting the difficulty in the presence of God  Faith gets behind the difficulty and there finds God, in all His faithfulness love and power.”

The second command was “Stand Still!” Standing in the midst of difficulty, your heart will say run, but the Spirit will say wait.  The God who brought you to this point will not abandon you!  The problem you face may be beyond your ability, but it is not beyond His. He is able!  You established that fact when your journey began.

Did God lead? Does He know? Is He able? Then stand still, and the Lord will fight for you while you keep silent. I have to admit that my heart often goes into panic mode. When it does, God always whispers the same word. For thus the LordGOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said,  “In repentance and rest you will be saved,  In quietness and trust is your strength.”  Isaiah 30:15 (NASB)

To stand still means to maintain your faith.  It means to keep your eyes glued on God and your ear tuned to His voice. Trust His leadership.  Wait for a word from Him, and when you hear it…

The third command came from God Himself. That third command was “Go Forward!” The “go forward” was issued before the sea was parted.  The command called for faith.  It called for faith that God would make a way when there seemed to be no way.

There are some things we will never learn about God until we stand with Him in the face of difficulty. If you run from the difficulty, you will never discover what God can do.  If you find yourself in an impossible situation, it is the perfect situation for God to show you what only He can do.

Never forget that the God who sent you is with you to protect you along the way.

The angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus the one did not come near the other all night. Exodus 14:19-20 (NASB)

God knows the road that you are traveling. He knows the circumstances that you face. If you will stand still, if you will trust Him in the midst of your circumstances, He will show you His power in a way that you have never seen it before.

There is no way I can know the circumstances you are facing as you read these words. But I know this, the promises of God are true. God is faithful. God is saying to you as you stand in the midst of your difficulty: “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”Hebrews 13:5 (NASB)

The difficulties God allows you to face, and your ultimate deliverance from difficulty, will bring honor to God’s name in your eyes and in the eyes of a watching world.

16 As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land. 17 As for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 Then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen.”Exodus 14:16-18 (NASB)

Have you come to the Red Sea place in your life,

Where, in spite of all you can do.

There is no way out, there is no way back,

There is no other way but  through?

Then wait on the Lord with a trust secure

Till the night of your fear is gone;

He will send the wind; He will keep the floods,

When He says to your soul, “Go on.”

Annie Johnston Flint

Photo by Kevin Wolf

Until I Know What God Will Do for Me

This is a rock bottom moment in David’s life! He is hurting, broken, and defeated. God’s promises seemed out of reach. His life, His future, and to a degree, even his faith, was on hold. On top of it all he was trying to take care of aging parents.

So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s household heard of it, they went down there to him. 2 Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him. 3 And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.” 1 Samuel 22:1-3

I encountered the verses above in a very personal way two years ago this month. My dad was very sick. The situation required me to make a three-hour drive -one way- as often as twice a week, while maintaining my job responsibilities and my own family. I was burning the candle at both ends, and I was absolutely exhausted. I was also discouraged. I knew I was doing what God wanted me to do, but I didn’t understand how God was going to work out my situation. How was I going to be able to do what I needed to do for my parents and still keep doing what He wanted me to do and maintain my sanity in the midst of it all?

Then one day the Lord met me in these verses. I saw David facing his own crisis of faith.He was destitute, discouraged and in danger. His circumstances brought him a dark, damp, dreary, depressing cave.  He is at a low point. He retreated to that cave in despair. He was joined by a host of others in similar circumstances. But what really touched me, is that in the midst of that situation, David is trying to figure out how he can best care for his parents. Think about it. David had a host of brothers. Where are they? It is David who bears this burden on his own heart.

I knew when I read these verses, that God was trying to tell me something. I didn’t know just what. So, I spent some time looking at what David said. As I did, God began to show me some things that greatly encouraged me. I hope they will encourage you.

Remember, this was a low point in David’s life. He was living in a kind of limbo. His life was on hold. He was stuck in a terrible period of difficulty. Here are the things God showed me about David.

First, David Didn’t Know What God Was Doing.

Have you ever faced such a time in your life? Maybe that is where you are today. God promised David a kingdom, but he was living in a cave. There are times when we find ourselves in one of life’s cave experiences.  It seems to us that all of our help and strength is gone.  We are suddenly overcome by loneliness and despair. Even in a cave full of people, David felt all alone! Have you ever been there?  David was living in the cave of despair, and he didn’t know what God was doing.

This is a rock bottom moment in David’s life! He is hurting, broken, and defeated. God’s promises seemed out of reach. His life, His future, and to a degree, even his faith, was on hold. On top of it all he was trying to take care of aging parents.

The statement: “Until I Know…” makes it clear He just didn’t know what God was doing. It was a time of devastating uncertainty in David’s life.

In the midst of his uncertainty, Saul, his enemy, still searched for David every day. He wanted David dead. It was for that reason that David was hiding. This was not a short space in David’s life. It seems to have spanned more than a decade. He would get out of that cave, but it would be years before David would get out of this season of despair that entered his life.

There are times like that for all of us. We just don’t know what God is doing. Maybe you are in one of those seasons today. You can’t see God’s hand. You can’t trace his plan. David didn’t know what God was doing. But in spite of that, David makes this incredible statement of faith: I need make sure my parents are cared for, “Until I know what God will do for me.”

While on the one hand, that statement is an admission that David didn’t know what God was doing, on the other hand, it expresses his confidence that:

God Was Doing Something.

Even though you may not know WHAT God is doing, do you believe that God is doing something. You may not be able to put your finger on what it is, but you know God is at work in and around your life.

What was God doing? This cave, became for a time, a place of separation where David was brought to the place where he had nothing to depend on but God alone. Because it was a place of separation, it also became a place of preparation. It is in times of difficulty and discouragement, when trouble seems relentless, we are forced to ask questions about ourselves and about our faith.

Is God with me? Will God take care of me? Is He working—even when we don’t know what He is doing? It becomes a great test of our faith when we must choose what we will believe about the God we serve. David didn’t know what God was doing, but he did sense God was doing something.

Perhaps the first indication of God’s activity were all these people who came to join David in that cave. They just seemed to show up spontaneously. All of them were just as discouraged as David. Look at that motley crew God called to join him. They didn’t seem to be people of promise. Yet, it was some of these discouraged folks who became David’s mighty men whose exploits in courage became legendary.

What touches me about this passage is that this period of David’s life also impacted his family. He felt a very real responsibility for them—especially for His parents. He takes them to Moab. Why Moab?

If you are a student of the Bible, you will remember that  David’s Great-Grandmother was Ruth, the Moabitess. She married a Jewish man named Boaz. They had a son named Obed—who had a son named Jesse. Jesse was David’s dad. Ruth was David’s great grandmother. She was from Moab. Do you suppose there were relatives in Moab, David thought he could trust to look after his parents?

He took them there he said, “Until I know what God will do for me.” This leads me to the next observation I want to make about this verse:

David Was Willing to Wait For God.

The Bible gives us insights into some of David’s feelings during this very discouraging time in his life. Consider these verses from Psalm 57. They were written by David when he fled from Saul and hid in this cave.

Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until destruction passes by. 2 I will cry to God Most High, to God who accomplishes all things for me.3 He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me. Psalm 57:1-3

Psalm 142 was also written by David when he was in the cave.

I cry aloud with my voice to the Lord; I make supplication with my voice to the Lord. 2 I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare my trouble before Him. 3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path. In the way where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.4 Look to the right and see; for there is no one who regards me; There is no escape for me; no one cares for my soul. Psalm 142:1-4

Obviously, he was in the middle of an incredible period of difficulty and discouragement. But David was willing to wait on God. Will you? Will you trust God until you know what He will do for you? David was willing to wait in danger or in difficulty. He didn’t know what God was doing, but his faith made him believe that God was doing something and he was committed to wait on God.

All of us find ourselves in times of discouragement. Our lives seem to be on hold. Our destiny seems down the drain. We are stuck in a dark cave of despair. It is in one of those seasons that David chose to surrender his life, as well as the life of those he loved into the care of God.

My dad died just a few weeks after I encountered these verses. I look back and I see how God was caring for me and for my parents during those difficult days. I didn’t know what God was doing. However, I sensed God was doing something. God taught me that in those times, all we can do is wait on God, as David said, “Until I know what God will do for me.”

Photo by Anaya Katlego

Terminal Difficulty

Is there some terminal difficulty in your life? Is there something in your life that is sick and about to die? Is it your marriage? Is it some other relationship? 

A simple story from the life of Jesus reveals a man facing terminal difficulty.

When He had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum.2 And a centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. 3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. 4 When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; 5 for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue.”6 Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; 7 for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” 9 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” 10 When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health. Luke 7:1-10

Did you notice the terminal difficulty facing this Roman Centurion? His servant, who meant much to him personally, was sick and about to die.

Is there some terminal difficulty in your life? Is there something in your life that is sick and about to die? Is it your marriage? Is it some other relationship? Could it be that the state of your own spiritual life is so low that you would describe it as “sick and about to die”? Or, is there a set of circumstances that has come into your life that you find beyond your control.

Ponder the decisions made by this Roman Centurion even before he stood in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He recognized the limits of his own ability. And so must you!

There are things you can’t do. There are circumstances you can’t control. There are problems you can’t solve. There were days when you thought you could. Before the problem got so severe, you may have tried your own solutions. But in the face of terminal difficulty, when something in your life is sick and about to die you must:

  1. Recognize the Limits of Your Own Ability.

 A Centurion was a man in command. As a Roman officer, he was in command of one hundred men. He an able man who was in control of whatever circumstances he faced. But on this day, he had no command over his own circumstances. The situation was beyond his control.

This brought him to another realization. He understood he needed help from outside himself. His rank afforded him no advantage. His connection with power at the highest levels of government offered him no hope in the face of this situation. His servant, who was of great value to him personally, was sick and about to die.

What terminal difficulty brings you to the end of your resources? Would you be willing to take one more step toward getting help from Jesus?

  1. Acknowledge That You Need Help from Outside Yourself.

 When the Centurion heard of Jesus, he sent for Him. He recognized something about Jesus that was not true about himself.  He had to admit his problem was beyond the scope of any human authority—especially his own.

Here was a man who understood authority. He understood the chain of command. He understood he was accountable to an authority above him, and he moved at their command. He also understood he had one hundred men under his charge, who moved at his command. “For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

What did this mean. It means he perceived Jesus to have an authority that he himself did not possess. Officials at the highest level of the Roman government did not possess the authority that belonged to Jesus. He recognized Jesus could say the word and that disease would obey Him just as the lowest ranking officer must obey Caesar.

Do you have a terminal difficulty in your life? Is something in your life sick and about to die? What should you do?

  1. Admit to Yourself that the Situation Is Beyond the Scope of Any Human Authority.

 There are no strings you can pull. There is no influence you can buy. The position you hold means nothing. Who you know provides you no leverage. What you have will not help. You have come to the limits of your own ability. You need help beyond yourself. Not only so, your situation is beyond the scope of any human authority.

The Jewish leaders, who were not quick to compliment Romans of any rank, quickly asserted that this Centurion was worthy of Jesus’ help. But standing as he was in the middle of difficulty, and knowing his own heart, he said, “For I am not worthy for You to come under my roof;  for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You.”

What a wise man he was to recognize who he was as he stood in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. As you stand in the face of the terminal difficulty this is also something you must understand.

  1. Understand That You Have Not in the Past, Do Not in the Present, and Will Not in the Future Deserve God’s Help.

 When faced with problems, we often sense a reluctance to come to Jesus because we know ourselves. Is that how you feel? Do you feel unfit and unqualified to ask for the help of the Lord Jesus? It is because you are.! All of us are! We will never be fit or worthy to ask help from the Lord Jesus!

God’s intervention in our circumstance is always a matter of His grace and mercyand never about our own personal merit. So, in the face of that which is sick and about to die, place yourself at the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Humbly ask for the help He alone can give you in the midst of your circumstances.

  1. Place Your Circumstances Under the Authority of the Lord Jesus.

What does that mean. Simply this; in the face of terminal difficulty you must relinquish your command of the situation. It is acknowledging all the things said before, but it is taking your hands off, while making a conscious surrender of the situation to the Sovereignty of the Savior.

Can you release your personal circumstances to the Lord Jesus? There is nothing harder than taking your hands off something that means the world to you. But realizing your own helplessness and powerlessness, you understand that it must be surrendered into the hands of One mightier than you.

Such was the situation in the life of this Centurion. At home was his beloved servant who was sick and about to die. This man who commanded men and circumstances now had to make a radical shift in his thinking. What he did next, is what you must also do.

  1. Trust the Ability and Authority of Jesus to Speak to Your Circumstances.

 Remember what this Centurion said to Jesus: For I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” Luke 7:6b-9

First, having heard of Jesus and the miracles He was working, he came to believe Jesus was also able to help him in the face of terminal difficulty. But the greatness of his faith is further displayed in not requiringJesus to come to his house. He understood the authority of Jesus. He understood that all Jesus had to do was to issue a command. He trusted the authority of Jesus to speak to His circumstances. Do you?

I am sure you have a situation in your life that must be “sick and about to die.” How can you, separated as Jesus seems from you and you from Him, secure His ability and His authority in your personal circumstances?

First, recognize the limits of your own ability. Acknowledge that you need help from outside yourself. Admit to yourself that the situation is beyond the scope of any human authority. Understand that you have not in the past, do not in the present, and will not in the future deserve, God’s help. That means coming to an awareness of your own sinfulness and unworthiness in the presence of the Lord Jesus. By faith, take the situation that leaves you helpless, and ask for the help of the Lord Jesus. Believe He has the ability and the authority to speak to your personal circumstances—even if you consider it some terminal difficulty. Surrender the situation to the Sovereignty of the Savior.

By doing those things, you take a step of faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. When you make that step, follow one more example offered to us by the Roman Centurion.

      7.  Expect Jesus to Make a Difference.

 I realize some of you who read these words may be skeptical of Christianity, and you are certainly skeptical of me. Allow me to humbly suggest that you humble yourself in the presence of the Lord Jesus. There is no perfect way to do that. Just be sincere. Be genuine. Tell Him what your problem is. Ask for His help. Leave the matter in His hands. There is something in or around your life that is sick and about to die. In the face of this terminal difficulty, why not give Jesus an opportunity to prove Himself to you?

Photo by Gus Moretta