on. You have the strong sense that you're in the perfect will of God
and you just know it. There are other seasons that come into our
lives, however, that aren't as fun. It's in these seasons that is
often hard to tell what God is doing in your life. These cloudy times
challenge us all, no matter how long we have been walking with God.
I've learned over the years that during these times it's important to
do three critical things.
REMEMBER WHAT YOU KNOW
First, never question in the darkness what you saw clearly in the
light. What I mean by that is that in times of cloudiness or darkness
we are tempted to question those things that we would never question
when we were seeing clearly.
It's vital that you remember what is true when you're thinking clearly
and seeing clearly and hearing clearly so that when the cloudy times
come, and it's dark and confusing, you will confidently know what is
true, and what is false.
LOOK FOR GOD'S BEACON OF LIGHT
God will never leave you completely in the dark. He gives us the sun
during the day but he also gives us the moon at night and, if nothing
else, he gives us the stars.
Our navigation point should always be Jesus and I don't care how dim
things may seem — I don't care how dark things may appear — if you
look up into the sky and earnestly search, I guarantee you, no matter
what season you are in, you will see at least one faint star, your
Lord Jesus Christ.
Your eyes may have to adjust to the darkness; you may have to scan the
horizon and search the skies; but there will be some light somewhere
because the light of Jesus Christ can never be completely crowded out
of your life.
To be sure, the enemy will send clouds, heavy dark clouds, your way.
But, he cannot extinguish the light above and that light will break
through. Sometimes it breaks through only in small pockets; sometimes
it breaks through in bold breathtaking ways, but it always breaks
through and the enemy will never be able extinguish or overcome the
light.
The enemy will try to distract you. He will try to confuse you. He
will try to flood your channels of communication with static. However,
he simple cannot sever the line between you and Christ. He cannot
break the relationship between you and Jesus. He may strain the
connection but he cannot cause a disconnection under any
circumstances.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love.
Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears
for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell
can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the
earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to
separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Romans 8:38-39 (NLT)
DARE TO HOPE AGAIN
When the path ahead is dim and you don't know what to do, you will be
tempted to move into some sort of survival mode. You'll want to play
it safe and not stray far from where you're currently standing. This
will even work for a short period of time but, if you stay in this
mode, you will eventually start to lose hope of any ever changing.
And, when you lose hope you've lost the ball game.
The Bible says that Jesus is our "living hope" and that means, among
other things, that as long as he is involved there is hope. Therefore,
we should not lose hope even if we can't see a way forward. Remember,
all things are possible with God.
Please understand that the real task at hand for you is not always
having to know the way forward. There are going to be many times when
you just can't see a clear path ahead and that's okay. You're not God.
You're not supposed to always know everything. In fact you'll drive
yourself crazy trying to figure everything out all the time.
No, the real task at hand, the real challenge before you, is to keep
hoping. You must keep your hope in God and his abilities alive. That's
where you should be spending your energies when the way ahead is dark
and foggy.
Do whatever you have to do but keep hoping and keep believing and keep
trusting your God. He is all-knowing; he is all powerful; and he will
come and redeem you. He will rescue you. He will even resurrect you if
necessary. But, you must keep hope in him alive in you. He will not
disappoint that hope and faith in him.
No comments:
Post a Comment