“The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”
Psalm 145:18
There are times in our lives when we are forced to stand amidst the deepest of trials. Little seems to make sense to us as the world just seems to have gone wrong and like things, they just won’t be right again. As these moments hit they seem so overwhelming, so overshadowing that it just doesn’t seem like its fair as we try to stand against the challenges that are before us and find that they just wage a war against our spirit and our soul, bringing us so much hurt.
It’s during these periods that struggle and adversity, hardship and pain come so near at hand as we are left to wonder to ourselves why it is that God has forced us to endure what it is that we have been made to face. It’s overbearing to us as, whether it’s of the body or the mind, the spirit or the soul, captivity comes and we are bound to the worst of the challenges we could have ever imagined.
Where are God’s promises? Where are His assurances in times like this? Was He not meant to be our deliverer? How could it then be that we are forced to live through times such as these?
Wherever we are forced to stand, whatever we are forced to face, we must remember that, in life, we must take the good with the bad, and know that, no matter how encompassing the bad may seem, no matter how much hurt it may try to inflict upon us, it is fleeting. Yes, it may surround us with such darkness as it puts a veil over our eyes and leaves our hearts broken as our spirits long and our souls yearn amidst our inability to grasp.
Even in these times God has a plan for us and for our lives, even in these times, no matter how far distant He may seem to us, He is there, staying true to His promises that He will never fail us or forsake us, that He will never abandon us, come what may, come what must. More than that though, out of the deepest of struggles, out of the greatest of challenges He makes us strong even in our weaknesses, showing unto us that His grace is sufficient for us… sufficient to make us into more than conquerors through He who loves us.
Trials and tribulation may rise, bondage and captivity may move, and wounds may be inflicted, but through the Lord there is a healing power that draws us near to Him as He, in His love and His compassion, mercy and grace, shows unto us that He shall always stand by His children, never letting them endure more than they can handle, and preparing a place of rest for them amidst the hope that He shall always bring into their lives. It is here that His endurance grants us perseverance and we know that the greatest of character, the greatest of integrity, the most upright of hearts grow amidst the care and love of the Lord’s nurturing hand, even as the greatest of winds blows against it, seeking to break it.
Whatever the challenge or whatever the trial, turn to the Lord and know that, through His righteousness you will be given then the strength and the endurance to meet all that comes before you in your life and through your life, as He guides and protects you with a peace that transcends all human understanding even unto life everlasting. All you have to do is trust in that sacred faith granted as a gift of grace by the power of the Spirit and made manifest in the love of Christ unto you.
Let us pray:
Unto You O Lord shall we raise all of our humble supplications…
Unto You O Lord shall we raise all of our troubles, all of our challenges…
Unto You O Lord shall we forever place all of our trust amidst the blessed assurances of Your encompassing word…
Hear our prayers, hear the calls of our lips and the yearning of our hearts and make haste to help us through all that we face amidst this world of trials and struggles, that we may find a resting place amidst the shelter of Your gracious precepts.
Hear our prayers O Lord as we commend into Your hands the life of the French tourist and his driver kidnapped in Niger.
Hear our prayers O Lord as we uplift to You the struggle in Somalia as gang wars have broken out, putting in jeopardy the lives of the hostages held there….
Rise up O Lord, and make haste to help Your children as bondage and captivity hold them in such bitter tyranny and oppression and darkness rises in their lives. Stand beside them as they find that death is so near to them, and in Your time, in Your way, set them free, bringing hope once more to reign in their lives as Your grace comes to bear in the grace that You bestow upon them. Be beside Your children, O Lord, that they may know that through it all, in it all, their God of deliverance is forever moving through the course of their lives to restore hope in even the most hopeless of situations, as all slavery and bondage, all captivity is put to flight, the chains are broken, in the liberty that You bestowed the spirit and the soul, the body and the mind with.
In the name of Your Son our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You in the Kingdom, one God, world without end. Amen.
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