"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the health of my countenance, and my God."-- Psa_42:5, Psa_42:11; Psa_43:5.
I have often been discouraged and I know you have too. It's not a sin to be discouraged... but it is a sin to allow your discouragement to turn your heart away from God. When you're discouraged and you make instant decisions about how to handle whatever caused your discouragement you can be sure your decision will be wrong. Waiting and leaning on God for help is the right way to handle our problems.
Most of my Christian walk was spent with me in control (not God) and every time something bad happened I would make the decisions about how to take care of the problems (I never waited on God, nor did I ask Him how I should handle anything). Looking back I can see all the mistakes I've made and I have to live with the regrets but my Father has used my failures and even my sins for my good.
Tell me, do you panic when something bad happens? Does your mind instantly start trying to figure out how to handle your problems? Do you become angry with whoever or whatever you believe is the cause of your problem? Don't be like I was... dependent only on myself to solve problems. Turn to God and read His Word for directions, help and hope.
One day a tragedy stuck our family and the problems arising from it caused misunderstandings and terrible pain. There was nothing I could to make it go away and nothing I could do to make things right. I couldn't correct all the wrong thinking, or the wrong actions being taken. I was caught in a trap of misunderstandings and there were several people who turned on me like tigers. These people didn't know the whole story and didn't care about my feelings, so they demonized me (one was a young pastor). They didn't even care about doing what God required them to do. I felt like David (Psalm 39 - 42) when his tormentors sought to do him harm and he cried out to God for hope and help. Since I couldn't correct the situation my prayers turned from wanting justice to only wanting to be vindicated... then my prayers became for God's Will to be done even if I was never justified or vindicated.
For the first time in my Christian walk I turned everything over to God and told Him this time I was going to trust Him to take care of it all. It took two years before I saw positive results began to happen. The most important thing was my apology to one of the persons involved and her apology to me. Neither one of us felt we had done anything wrong, but the truth is... we were both terribly wrong because from the start we didn't turn to God and ask Him how we should handle this tragedy and our hurt feelings. We not only sinned against each other but more importantly we sinned against God. The other people involved have never apologized nor admitted they were wrong. However, I don't expect them to apologize... I have placed it all in God's loving hands because only He knows each heart and the intentions of each person involved. I can rest in His arms and know He is the vindicator of us all.
God used this tragedy and the results of all the misunderstandings and hurt feelings for my good. I thank God for all the good that came out of such a terrible and painful tragedy. First and foremost I have learned to trust God and to lean on His understanding (not my own). Now, when something bad happens I run to my Father for comfort and advice... then I wait upon Him to guide me through the situation. Before this tragedy I never understood how to trust Him and I never understood how to wait upon His guidance... and I would never have learned these vital Christian lessons any other way other than to be broken and utterly unable to do anything about it.
Listen, God alone knows your heart and mine (God says our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9)
I have often been discouraged and I know you have too. It's not a sin to be discouraged... but it is a sin to allow your discouragement to turn your heart away from God. When you're discouraged and you make instant decisions about how to handle whatever caused your discouragement you can be sure your decision will be wrong. Waiting and leaning on God for help is the right way to handle our problems.
Most of my Christian walk was spent with me in control (not God) and every time something bad happened I would make the decisions about how to take care of the problems (I never waited on God, nor did I ask Him how I should handle anything). Looking back I can see all the mistakes I've made and I have to live with the regrets but my Father has used my failures and even my sins for my good.
Tell me, do you panic when something bad happens? Does your mind instantly start trying to figure out how to handle your problems? Do you become angry with whoever or whatever you believe is the cause of your problem? Don't be like I was... dependent only on myself to solve problems. Turn to God and read His Word for directions, help and hope.
One day a tragedy stuck our family and the problems arising from it caused misunderstandings and terrible pain. There was nothing I could to make it go away and nothing I could do to make things right. I couldn't correct all the wrong thinking, or the wrong actions being taken. I was caught in a trap of misunderstandings and there were several people who turned on me like tigers. These people didn't know the whole story and didn't care about my feelings, so they demonized me (one was a young pastor). They didn't even care about doing what God required them to do. I felt like David (Psalm 39 - 42) when his tormentors sought to do him harm and he cried out to God for hope and help. Since I couldn't correct the situation my prayers turned from wanting justice to only wanting to be vindicated... then my prayers became for God's Will to be done even if I was never justified or vindicated.
For the first time in my Christian walk I turned everything over to God and told Him this time I was going to trust Him to take care of it all. It took two years before I saw positive results began to happen. The most important thing was my apology to one of the persons involved and her apology to me. Neither one of us felt we had done anything wrong, but the truth is... we were both terribly wrong because from the start we didn't turn to God and ask Him how we should handle this tragedy and our hurt feelings. We not only sinned against each other but more importantly we sinned against God. The other people involved have never apologized nor admitted they were wrong. However, I don't expect them to apologize... I have placed it all in God's loving hands because only He knows each heart and the intentions of each person involved. I can rest in His arms and know He is the vindicator of us all.
God used this tragedy and the results of all the misunderstandings and hurt feelings for my good. I thank God for all the good that came out of such a terrible and painful tragedy. First and foremost I have learned to trust God and to lean on His understanding (not my own). Now, when something bad happens I run to my Father for comfort and advice... then I wait upon Him to guide me through the situation. Before this tragedy I never understood how to trust Him and I never understood how to wait upon His guidance... and I would never have learned these vital Christian lessons any other way other than to be broken and utterly unable to do anything about it.
Listen, God alone knows your heart and mine (God says our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9)
"The answer to the question, "who can know it?" To himself a man’s heart is an inscrutable mystery: God alone can fathom it।" ~ Barnes
"The heart is supplanting - tortuous - insidious;" lying ever at the catch; striving to avail itself of every favorable circumstance to gratify its propensities to pride, ambition, evil desire, and corruption of all kinds।" ~ Clarke
We don't know our own heart less-lone anyone else's so we must learn to lean on God when someone hurts us, or when a tragedy stikes. Don't struggle when a painful situation arises or a tragedy hits, and don't panic when you find there's nothing you can do to put things right. This is where God wants you to be so He can break your will and mold it to His. When you fight against whatever is happening in your life you're telling God you don't trust Him for the outcome.
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THE SILVER LINING IN THE DARK CLOUD
by F.B. Meyer (1847 – 1929).
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the health of my countenance, and my God."-- Psa_42:5, Psa_42:11
THESE TWO Psalms are evidently one. See how the same refrain rings through them both! They are generally allocated to that sad time in David's history, when the rebellion of his favorite son, Absalom, drove him as an exile beyond the Jordan (2Sa_15:14). But amid the great sorrows that rolled over his soul, there was one glad ingredient. Thrice over the Psalmist encourages himself to Hope!
For many a sorrowful soul, this is a true emblem. Amid all the disappointment and despair of life, there is always one chord of Hope--God! We may stand amid the wreck of our earthly hopes. Through misconduct or mistake, as the result of folly or sin, we may have reduced ourselves and those dear to us to the last degree of misery; but the soul may always turn from its low estate to God, sure that He will have mercy, will abundantly pardon, and will turn again the adverse pressure of the tide.
See how the broken-hearted may still speak of God! This man had grievously sinned. He seemed to have forfeited all claim on God's recognition and care. He had brought shame and disgrace on the cause of religion. All down the years the story of his wrong-doing would give the enemies of truth abundant reason to blaspheme. And yet see how he dares to speak of God! He describes Him as the God of his life, as his Rock, as the Health of his countenance, the God of his strength, and the Gladness of his joy. This is a great lesson! We may change, but God changes never. We may turn our face from Him, or allow some evil thing to loom between ourselves and the clear shining of His face. But he shines on, and when we confess our sins, and put them away, we find ourselves afresh in the clear shaft of His illuminating rays. You may have lost all hope in yourself, your friends, your circumstances, but you must never lose your hope in God.
The past, which can only be viewed with repentance, is forgiven; the present, in which God is willing to be All-in-all; the future, when again the soul shall praise Him with joyful lips. Hope looks into the future. "I shall yet praise Him."
PRAYER:
Our Father, forgive, we pray Thee, our murmuring and discontent, our perverseness and waywardness. Teach us to discern the silver edge of the lowering clouds, and to trust Thy love, which is leading us safely and by a right way to our home. AMEN. ~ Meyer
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"The Lord bless thee, and, keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace " ~ Numbers 6:24-26.
In His tender care always,
Dot
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