TAKE HEART!
Do you feel completely overwhelmed by life? Don't feel alone. You are in good company. There are so many cases of people in the Bible feeling discouraged to the point of wishing for death, that I could not even tell you all of them. However, I am going to give you a few examples so you see that you are not alone. First and foremost I must strongly say, 'Take heart! The Lord is near and His awesome redemption power is at hand!'
Many Scriptures have come to me over the past few months, and I see they have a common thread. They are all Scriptures of encouragement from the Lord. His people were constantly getting themselves into trouble and needing God's mercy and unfailing love to get them out of it. Often times the people would run from what God had spoke to them to do, but God brought them back with His Mighty Hand. To name a few and their story in part:
· Moses - Murdered an Egyptian soldier and fled to the dessert where he spent 40 years before even beginning his ministry which led millions of Hebrews out of bondage.
· David - Had relations with a married woman then tried to hide it by getting the husband to come home from the war with which he was engaged. The man however, could not take comfort with his wife knowing his fellow soldiers were on the battlefield. Then David ordered the troops to fall back from the man so he would be killed. Talk about abuse of power! Then David did not even repent for a year afterwards. But God loved David. The Bible says that David was a man after God's own heart. WHY? Because God knew David truly loved Him. While David suffered in his lifetime for his iniquity, he was also greatly blessed.
· Jehosaphat - He was surrounded by the enemy. (This Scripture has come up so many times to me in the last couple of months 2 Chr 20 and especially verses 15-18) The Lord told him the battle belonged to Him. God told him to stand firm and watch. Jehosaphat had a job to do and that was to trust God at His word. His job was to believe that the great multitudes coming against him would be defeated by God. He ended up on his face before God in worship when most men would have been arming up to do battle. The enemies were utterly destroyed. Not one survived! It took three days to bring in the booty.
· Esther - She was prepared to please the king and saved her entire race. However, it could have cost her life. She prayed and fasted and had all the other Hebrews and all the animals fast as well. She was granted favor by the king and the Jews were saved. The gallows built to hang her uncle were used to hang the one responsible for the evil plot against the Jewish nation.
· Joseph - He was dearly loved by his father and his brothers were so jealous that they plotted and sold him into slavery. They told his father that a wild beast had killed him. Joseph later ended up in jail for not agreeing to sin against God and spend 14 years in jail. however, God did not forget him there and he was restored and given power and blessings. He was able to turn around and save his father and brother's from starving.
Job - Here was a man who was hit with every calamity known to man. The first thing he did after learning all his children were killed, his servants, livestock killed or stolen by his enemies. All within a few hours. His first notion was to fall to the ground and worship God! This left me with my mouth hanging open. Then the devil was allowed to further torment him by giving him an ailment which caused him great distress. His wife's advice was to curse God and die. Although she has gotten a bad rap over the years, she seemed to understand what the test was all about. The long and short of the story of Job was that he loved the Lord and didn't fall into the trap of the enemy.
· Matthew - This man was hated among his own people and most likely even the other disciples were wondering why Jesus called him. He work for the Romans to collect taxes from the Hebrews.
· Peter - - He was constantly being corrected by Jesus. One time Jesus actually said Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." Also, just before Jesus was killed Jesus told him that he would deny Him three times. Peter said that there was no way! Yet that is exactly what happened. When Jesus arose from the dead he sent word to the apostles and Peter.. a special mention for Peter, because Jesus knew that he was deeply grieved.
· Paul - This man killed Christians as a service to God! God saw his heart and appeared to him on the road to Damascus. Paul, then Saul, did not consult men but went and studied himself approved.
What all these people have in common was that they were not able to save themselves, but their situations were redeemed by God. Many of them struggled fiercely. God's power was made perfect in their weakness. I did not even discuss Job or Jonah and they are other excellent examples of how to rely on God when it could not look worse. Just as Lazarus was raised from the dead, we need to understand that we have the power of the resurrecting God living on the inside of us. He can and He will bring us back to life. We need to take off the grave clothes, and go forth in the confidence of the Lord.
PS 91
Matt 11:29
2 Co 12:9
