“My
eye grows dim because of sorrow and affliction, Lord, I have called daily on
You; I have spread forth my hands to You” Psalm 88:9 AMP
“How
long must I lay up cares within me and have sorrow in my heart day after
day?” Psalm 13:2a AMP
If
you are going through a tough time I want you to know THERE IS HOPE, but you
cannot just sit and wait for things to change.
The more you sit and consider your situation the more the darkness of
your situation looms over you. There are
some things you can do. The first thing
is to cry out to God. I am not talking
about you asking God in prayer to fix things; I am talking about an absolute
cry of need from the depths of your soul to the only One Who can work on your behalf.
Consider
Hanna, a woman who could not have children and was ridiculed because of
it. She went to the Temple (tent of the Lord) and “…in distress
of soul, praying to the Lord and weeping bitterly.” What was the end result of this cry from her
soul? God granted her petition and she
became pregnant and had a son. (1 Samuel
1)
Another
person to consider is David. Before he
was crowned king of Israel
he had to flee and run away from King Saul, his own father-in-law, because King
Saul wanted to kill him. Hiding in rural
townships, deserts, caves and even in Israel’s enemy territory you can read how
he felt deep down inside his soul when you read the psalms like Psalm 13:3-4
“Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; lighten the eyes of my faith to behold
Your face in the pitch-like darkness, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lest my enemy say, I have prevailed over him,
and those that trouble me rejoice when I am shaken.” After penning this cry to God he must have
felt better because he was able to write, “But I have trusted, leaned on, and
been confident in Your mercy and loving-kindness; my heart shall rejoice and be
in high spirits in Your salvation.”
Psalm 13:5-6 AMP
The
Second thing to do is to read the Psalms.
They speak of hard times and how God can help you through them, “You
shall not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor of the arrow (the evil
plots and slanders of the wicked) that flies by day.” Psalm 91:5 AMP
The
third thing to do is to seek out someone who has gone through tough times
themselves and come out the other side in victory and stronger in the
Lord. Ask them to share their story
about how God delivered them. Ask them
to pray with you for your own deliverance or need (Matthew 18:18-20).
The
most important thing to consider is that God’s deliverance is the best. We may have our own idea of what would be
best for us but in the long-run what God chooses to meet our needs with is the
best. Just remember though, He may
choose to not deliver you out of the circumstance, but THROUGH it instead, as
evidenced by Paul’s thorn in the flesh.
God did not remove the thorn but made His grace sufficient for Paul to
live with it (2 Cor. 12:6-8). In other
words, God’s grace enabled Paul to not be distracted or bothered by the thorn
in the flesh so that he could continue his ministry.
“In
the multitude of my anxious thoughts within me, Your comforts cheer and delight
my soul!” Psalm 94:19 AMP
“For
I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels
nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be
able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 AMP
THERE IS HOPE; reach out and grasp it!
