So, when ~ ‘What’s on your mind and heart’ is too heavy, and seems to consume your every thought, paralyzing you with worry, or when people hold you over a barrel of threats and friends deceive, disappointing deeply, look to the God who gives authority to crush the enemy’s tactics and the God who cares deeply for your beautiful soul.
Yeah, in those down and out moments it’s truly time to offer Him praise as you say with the Psalmist in Psalm 118: 8- 13, 16b, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in people. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. Though hostile nations surrounded me, I destroyed them all with the authority of the Lord. They swarmed around me like bees; they blazed against me like a crackling fire. But I destroyed them all with the authority of the Lord. My enemies did their best to kill me, but the Lord rescued me. The Lord is my strength and my song and He has given me victory…the strong right arm of the Lord has done glorious things.”
Stand on His promise. Claim His Truth and watch His deliverance.
Ok, so the journey is long and the steps are difficult and the end just doesn’t seem to be in view. Don’t we just trudge along sometimes with head down and heart heavy and steps weary? I can only imagine a couple that did the same as they journeyed to Bethlehem for their government duties with taxes to pay and deadlines to meet and bones just as weary as ours! Yet with strength waning and with great apprehension amidst simple trust, nagging deep within their souls ~ they made their way. Yeah, Joseph the obedient through thick and thin, and Mary ~ heavy with child ~ the Savior of the World, experiencing events so complex and hard to comprehend they made their way ~ just because it was God’s plan and they were a part of it. Sometimes His plans are not easy, but it was a beautiful plan, a plan for saving the world and it had to be and it had to be just “precise” in its timing and perfect right down to the last straw.
No room, and all alone ~ but no! Not alone! Not even for a second, because God was guiding every lonely step of the way, even through their weariness. So beautiful weary you with soul heavy, and heart aching know that your steps are ordered by this same sovereign God that led the weary couple to Bethlehem! He directs with events so perfectly timed that we could never figure them out. He unravels the mess, the complications, the unanswered questions, the apprehension, and the fear right down to the final straw, where you feel like throwing in the towel. So don’t do it! He’s got it! Whatever has you bound in worry, Don’t give up! Mary went through what she went through for the ultimate purpose of delivering Christ to the world and presented us with a Savior and Yeah, a beautiful example for us.
So, our purpose in this life is to do the same through our struggles and our situations! Whatever difficulty is heavy on your plate this advent season, Let God lead you through it with precision as you deliver Christ to a needy world, through your faith and trust and joy even in the difficult.
Luke 1:35, 37
“The angel replied, ” The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy and he will be called the Son Of God….For nothing is impossible with God.”
For that issue that baffles you today, and try as you might you can’t see past the ominous, heavy cloud that hangs over your head, just know that God walks there ~ in your confusion ~ in that thick, chaotic fog that weighs so heavy overhead and He’s got your problem. He sees perfectly and clearly through it all and He’s working behind the scenes to fix it in the most perfect way possible. Unlike our repairs, His fixes the heart of the issue, not just with a band aid and some salve, but with perfect timing, the ointment of unconditional love, sweet mercy and amazing grace! He knows the end from the beginning! He’s got your problem, and that thing that weighs so heavy on your heart today. Yes, even through the dense fog that prevents us from seeing all the fine, intricate, and sometimes downright ugly detail ~ He sees it all! He’s Our Creator, Our Provider, Our Sustainer, Our Great Physician, Our Healer, and Our Good Shepherd who cares for His own. Trust Him with your issue. He has your back! He has your greatest interest at heart. You don’t need to see! He knows what He’s doing!
Isaiah 55: 8 – 9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. 9″For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.…”
Hope and Healing In Hard Places 