Have you ever been in a situation where there seemed to be no hope? Now, I’m not necessarily talking about some dramatic, life-altering situation. It could be small. No doubt, we’ve all used or heard the term before, “There’s no hope” or “He doesn’t stand a chance” or “That’s a lost cause.”
The truth is, throughout our lives, no matter how spiritual or non spiritual you are, we’ve all faced different trials and tests that made us feel as if a situation in our life was hopeless. There are things constantly going on around us. Constantly problems being thrown our way.
I wish that I could say that you’ll never face another problem. That you’ll never experience any grief. Yet, I’m not naive enough to say or believe that. However, here’s what I’ve learned recently in my own life…there is greater glory in your grief – if you’ll keep walking. Job is the epitome of this belief and reasoning in the bible. He faced unimaginable grief to most of us.
I cannot fathom losing EVERYTHING I owned, my family, AND my health. To me, that would be the most grievous, depressing and upsetting thing that anyone could face. If it were me, I would be tempted to call it quits. That would be tough. But you see Job, after all he went through and endured, experienced a greater glory in his grief…because he kept walking.
The key in all of this is not to dwell on what is lost but to build on what remains.
In spite of what you’ve lost, in spite of your circumstances, if you will just stand firm in your faith and belief, you will BUILD on what’s left after it’s all said and done. Can you image how differently Ruth’s life would have turned out if she would’ve let the troubles she went through cause her to stop following the leading of the Holy Spirit to go with Naomi? She would’ve missed Boaz. The greatest blessing in her life, the most glorious event came because she chose to keep walking…despite her circumstances.
But what do you do when you’ve been following the Lord’s steps and everything seems to be going SO WELL; then all of the sudden, everything just caves in? For me, those have been the times when it’s seemed to be the most difficult to hold onto hope. The easiest times to give up.
In I Kings 17, the Prophet Elijah was living during a time of famine, and the Lord led him in I Kings 17:2 down to the brook. And verse 4 says, “Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.” So at this point, Elijah is blessed and hopeful that he’s going to make it through this famine. Then all the sudden, in verse 7 it says, “But after a while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land.”
Today, you may feel as if God’s led you to a dried up brook. You may feel like He’s abandoned you and left you on your own, but don’t give up when you’re by the brook. God didn’t bring Elijah down to the brook to punish him…God brought Elijah to the brook in Chapter 17 to prepare him for Chapter 18. Because in Chapter 18, we see the Lord use Elijah to bring about one of the greatest miracles and fulfilled prophecies in the Old Testament. I Kings 18:45 says, “And soon the sky was black with clouds. A heavy wind brought a terrific rainstorm.” God used Elijah’s dried up brook experience to bring an end to the famine.
God is a good God. He doesn’t allow us to go through tough times to punish us. Anyone who thinks God allows bad things to happen as punishment doesn’t understand the Love of our God. Be encouraged!
