Grace in the Desert

"It came to pass....that the brook dried up (1 Kings 17:7).

Have you ever opened your eyes to a brand new day with your chest tight and heavy? Tired, you moan and roll over. Bleary-eyed from the mundane, or confused about your purpose, you recall better days and wonder if God's gone on vacation. Prayers hit the ceiling and fall back like dead weight. Friends say all the wrong things when you try to explain. Smothered by your emotions, you form a disconnect from the world at large. Inwardly, you're sinking. And you know it. Depression is a nasty visitor. Half the time it doesn't just knock at your door, it barges right in when you're trying so hard to keep the door shut.

We may be under spiritual attack when these feelings surface, but sometimes burnout, loss, and grief will take their toll. This is part of life. Even women with erratic hormones, may find that chronic depression and dissatisfaction with life contine to be the underriding current that prevents them from functioning, even as their hormones level out. Life hurts, yet we drift away from our God, doing things our own way. We'd rather He change things. Or we want to stop wasting our lives, but we don't know how. Or worse yet, we don't want to live. If this is true, we definitely need a trusted pastor or biblical counselor to help sort through our issues, and to find godly friends who will be honest and willing to walk alongside us. Isolation spells disaster, since we humans so easily succumb to negative self-talk and lies. Every one of us needs accountability and spiritual reality checks, myself included.

Whatever you're going through, remember: God is still in control. He's never surprised by circumstances, nor does He take vacations. He may be invisible, but He is still a very present help in times of trouble. Our faith, though, cannot be based on feelings, but in Whom we have believed. Let us be mindful of this as dark seasons come to pass. To rise above our circumstances and feelings, we must train our mind to think what is true, and renounce those sneaky lies and self-talk that defeat us. As we wholeheartedly turn to God in our pain, we can then trust Him with the outcome, believing that He will most assuredly work everything for our good and His glory.

Several friends are suffering inwardly right now. Different reasons, different seasons. Mere words prove inadequate to ease someone's pain. Perhaps a hug would do more. Words also seem inadequate when we try to explain God. Let God be God! Only God can spread divine healing balm across the brokenness of our hearts. Only He can restore purpose and meaning to our fractured lives. I won't stop praying and believing that God's grace is all-sufficient, no matter what season we're in.

"The education of our faith is incomplete if we have not learned that there is a providence of loss, a ministry of failing and of fading things, a gift of emptiness. The material insecurities of life make for its spiritual establishment." ~ F.B. Meyer

Inspite of walking faithful with God, times will come when we feel like we're groping in the dark. Nevermind that others don't understand. Their time will come. In a passage from Streams in the Desert, Dr. Pardington is quoted:

"Beloved, is this you? What shall the believer do in times of darkness? Listen! Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and rely upon his God."

And so the first thing we do is nothing...but trust.

"When you run into a spiritual fog bank, don't tear ahead; slow down in the machinery of your life...we are simply to trust God. While we trust, God can work."

God will eventually lead us out of the woods. Meanwhile, His peace will quiet our hearts and minds as we put our hand in His. He will guide us into the light of His love.

"Providence hath a thousand keys to open a thousand sundry doors for the deliverance of His own, when it is even come to a desperate case. Let us be faithful; and care for our own part which is to suffer for Him, and lay Christ's part on Himself, and leave it there." ~ George McDonald

This is a hard truth, but it bears repeating. Coming to know Christ is not any sort of guarantee, other than Christ in you, the hope of Glory. Never will He leave or forsake you, and He has given us everything we need for godly living. Yes, Christ alone is our treasure--not our bank account, not our reputation, our car, hobbies, health, job, or ability to achieve. When will we realize that "our life is not our own"? It is His to do with as He pleases. We may pass through the land of despair, but it's not our dwelling place. And yes, we have an adversary who works overtime to plant seeds of disbelief and despair. But we don't have to let them take root and grow. The enemy's ultimate purpose is to distance us from our God, to deny Him in the end.

Beloved, don't do it.

Let us surrender our emotions, our losses, our will and our life to God. Watch Him work through it. Our part is to surrender all; His part is to work and supply, just as He promised. God comforts us while teaching us the value and joy of the hidden life in Him. If life were always easy, we'd continue to live superficially and never experience the deeper streams in the desert where this hidden life flows. And so I pray for my hurting friends and ask that their season of loneliness and heartache would not last long, but that God would accomplish a profound work of grace in their lives, revealing more of Himself, day by day, so that out of their hearts would flow living water in the desert of their struggles.

"The most deeply taught Christians are generally those who have been brought into the searching fires of deep soul-anguish. If you have been praying to know more of Christ, do not be surprised if He takes you aside into a desert place, or leads you into a furnace of pain." Streams in the Desert.

The Christians who taught me the most over the years, have been those who have suffered much, quietly, yet extended such beautiful grace and compassion when I shared my own trials. They were more loving, less vocal.

"There are two ways of getting out of a trial. One is to simply try to get rid of the trial, and be thankful when it is over. The other is to recognize the trial as a challenge from God to claim a larger blessing than we have ever had, and to hail it with delight as an opportunity of obtaining a larger measure of divine grace. Thus, even the adversary becomes an auxillary, and the things that seem to be against us turn out to be for the furtherance of our way. Surely, this is to be more than conquerors through Him who loved us." ~ A.B. Simpson

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." ~ 1Peter 5: 6-7

"And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast." ~1 Peter 5:10-11

This, too, shall pass, beloved. Cling to your Hope.