Things don’t always happen the way we thought they would. David the Psalmist must have felt that, too.
“Why so downcast oh, my soul, put your trust in God!”
“No thanks, depression and fatigue – you can’t come in.”
Took this woodsy picture in Peaceful Valley last week! It was just after a rain, overcast, but bright. From the shadows, there was a path out…
This is me, struggling with some things I don’t understand, putting my trust in God:
- All the days planned for me were written in His book before I was even one day old (Psalm 139.16). Just because the days aren’t feeling purposeful enough for me or the time I am in holds lots of unanswered questions, I am not wandering aimlessly. The days I know-that-I-know I am fully/gloriously in the center of His planned will for my life versus the days I am wondering what the heck that will is don’t affect the story He wrote for my life. I am in His sights. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me…
- He will never leave me, nor forsake me (Deut. 31.6). I have that horrible tendency to drift into that ridiculous thinking that if I am not smack in the middle of some great move of God somewhere {working my head off} that I have somehow been locked out of the Kingdom, the only univited person to all the good Kingdom parties. In my heart of hearts, I am ever more aware, the quieter it gets, the closer He is (it’s how He draws me near). Behold, the Kingdom of God is at hand. He is with me. With me!
- “Therefore, don’t be foolish. Understand what the Lord’s will is” (Eph. 5.17). If I don’t have enough things happening, needs to fulfill, ministry to get done, places to be or people to see, if there is a holy dissatisfaction with the status quo, then setting myself to understanding God’s will should keep me pretty occupied – a pretty full assignment, I’d say. Finding out from Him for my life, “What is THIS {particular place &} time for?” seems like a worthy pursuit leaving little room for feeling tentative.
You know, even after amazing, great times of spiritual victories, the prophet Elijah had some extreme fatigue and depression come knocking on his door. He must have felt tentative about any kind of future or anything good ahead for his life because he actually told God he’d had enough and wanted God to take him out.
But the God of the Universe never left Elijah. God is so faithful like that. He didn’t tell Elijah to pull himself up by his bootstraps and to get his hustle on. God fed him and caused him to sleep, fed him again and gave him more rest. God comforted him. Then God spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice and eventually sent him to his next assignment – lots more cool stuff was on the horizon for his life!
While we may be feeling unsettled or unconfirmed, there is probably already a plan in place for some wonderful adventure in faith, an exciting storyline written by God for our lives before time even began. Get ready for your cue, watch for the brightly lighted path out…