A dim cloud of despondency. A miasma of melancholy. A hovering of hopelessness. What is it, that in the wakening from a dream, or a fleeting thought that flits through your mind upon arising that can darken your day and let this deep sadness envelop you? I can barely remember the dream and I am under this weight of gloom and despair. And if that is what has colored my day, what of those who are dealing with illness, or family problems or deep financial issues. What do you do to chase those dark clouds away and retain your faith and trust in the Lord.
It amazes me that the Lord not only loves each of us, but hears us all and is attentive. We had a woman who is just coming to know the Lord ask how does He hear us in the middle of all the millions of people on the earth. Who really can answer that? I am no great theologian or teacher of the bible. Yes, I have and do study, but I think what I learn I have learned through life's experiences and through seeing the Lord's faithfulness. I've thought about this a lot and as a mom I can, as scripture says, see through a glass darkly and see in part (1 Cor. 13:12). As a mom, when my children were younger it could often be chaos in the house. The day to day menial things going on. The wash machine going, the dishwasher running, three kids running through the house. It was very rarely quiet. But in the midst of all the noise and pandemonium, I could still hear my children and could still differentiate their voices. Because I loved them and I knew the sound of their voice. And if I, being only human can do that, how much more can our omnipotent, omnipresent God do? As it says in Matthew 7:11, "If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing. You’re at least decent to your own children. So don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?" (MSG)
Yes, our God, who conceived us in love always does better. Above and beyond what we could hope or dream (Eph. 3:20). He loves more. He gives more. He desires the best for us. There is none better than He who is the One who can help us to achieve all that He has in store for us. I have talked about my mom and dad before. The struggles they had with alcoholism. The demons that they fought. But even in the midst of that life, they had love for me. They loved me to the best of their ability. It is only as an adult that I could even begin to understand them. To have compassion for them. To forgive them and know that they did their best. So, they in their lack still loved me. How much more in His abundance does God love me. How much more does He love you. And how greatly does He desire that you trust in that love. That you walk in the knowledge of that love and that you live in the freedom of that love.
As I said, I woke up this morning just ineffably sad. No reason, just some strange dream that invaded my soul and left me in tears. Sheesh, even now I am crying, no reason, just one of those days. But the God who formed me, who made me cares even about these silly tears. He cares that I am sad, even if for no legitimate reason. And don't you think if He can and does care about that, that He cares about your sickness? That He cares that your rent is due and you don't have the funds. That He cares that your husband or wife is emotionally unavailable or verbally or physically abusive. He cares. About the minuscule things, about the big things and about the things that threaten to drown you they seem so huge.
I can give you hundreds of scriptures to help. I can. But I won't. I want you to dig, just like I have to. If you can't think of a scripture, go on Google or something and type in 'scripture' and then what your looking for. I just typed in 'scripture' and 'trust'. It came up with one link that said 20 verses about trust. Another said 48 bible verses about trust. Or open your bible and just start reading. His promises are new and fresh every morning. But how can you stand on a promise if you don't know it. How can rely on His power if you don't access it. It is like having electricity to your home, the power is on and paid for, but you never flip that switch. And then you rail at the darkness. Don't rail at the darkness. Access the light and walk in it's freedom.
There is another verse that talks about even though we are sinful how we give good gifts to our children...Luke 11:13, "So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him." (NLV) One of the greatest gifts that God ever gave us was the gift of His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was given to us as a comforter. As a teacher. He is a counselor. He helps us recall those thing we know about God. The word for spirit in the Hebrew is ruwach, meaning breath or wind. And in the Greek pneuma, meaning current of air, breath or breeze. (Strong's Concordance).
When we are going through the doldrums there is a way out. What a great word that is...Merriam-Webster gives this information on the word, "Everyone gets the doldrums - a feeling of low spirits and lack of energy - every once in a while. The doldrums experienced by sailors, however, are usually of a different variety. In the mid-19th century, the word once reserved for a feeling of despondency came to be applied to certain tropical regions of the ocean marked by the absence of strong winds. Sailing vessels, reliant on wind propulsion, struggled to make headway in these regions, leading to long, arduous journeys." What a concise way to describe our lives. Those doldrums the sailors experienced were due to lack of wind in their sails. The doldrums in our life is due to the lack of wind, breeze, breathe of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We have a solution that those sailors did not. They could not just call up the wind to come and move them. We have the freedom and the ability to call upon the Holy Spirit to move in our lives and to blow away those dim clouds of despondency. To blast away that miasma of melancholy. To sweep away that hovering hopelessness. We have the breath of the Holy Spirit to get us out of those stagnant doldrums and into a fresh new day filled with His love, peace and joy. With the love of our Heavenly Father, with the joy of our salvation through Jesus and the breath of the Holy Spirit in our lives we will not have a long arduous journey, but a new adventure every day.
It amazes me that the Lord not only loves each of us, but hears us all and is attentive. We had a woman who is just coming to know the Lord ask how does He hear us in the middle of all the millions of people on the earth. Who really can answer that? I am no great theologian or teacher of the bible. Yes, I have and do study, but I think what I learn I have learned through life's experiences and through seeing the Lord's faithfulness. I've thought about this a lot and as a mom I can, as scripture says, see through a glass darkly and see in part (1 Cor. 13:12). As a mom, when my children were younger it could often be chaos in the house. The day to day menial things going on. The wash machine going, the dishwasher running, three kids running through the house. It was very rarely quiet. But in the midst of all the noise and pandemonium, I could still hear my children and could still differentiate their voices. Because I loved them and I knew the sound of their voice. And if I, being only human can do that, how much more can our omnipotent, omnipresent God do? As it says in Matthew 7:11, "If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing. You’re at least decent to your own children. So don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?" (MSG)
Yes, our God, who conceived us in love always does better. Above and beyond what we could hope or dream (Eph. 3:20). He loves more. He gives more. He desires the best for us. There is none better than He who is the One who can help us to achieve all that He has in store for us. I have talked about my mom and dad before. The struggles they had with alcoholism. The demons that they fought. But even in the midst of that life, they had love for me. They loved me to the best of their ability. It is only as an adult that I could even begin to understand them. To have compassion for them. To forgive them and know that they did their best. So, they in their lack still loved me. How much more in His abundance does God love me. How much more does He love you. And how greatly does He desire that you trust in that love. That you walk in the knowledge of that love and that you live in the freedom of that love.
As I said, I woke up this morning just ineffably sad. No reason, just some strange dream that invaded my soul and left me in tears. Sheesh, even now I am crying, no reason, just one of those days. But the God who formed me, who made me cares even about these silly tears. He cares that I am sad, even if for no legitimate reason. And don't you think if He can and does care about that, that He cares about your sickness? That He cares that your rent is due and you don't have the funds. That He cares that your husband or wife is emotionally unavailable or verbally or physically abusive. He cares. About the minuscule things, about the big things and about the things that threaten to drown you they seem so huge.
I can give you hundreds of scriptures to help. I can. But I won't. I want you to dig, just like I have to. If you can't think of a scripture, go on Google or something and type in 'scripture' and then what your looking for. I just typed in 'scripture' and 'trust'. It came up with one link that said 20 verses about trust. Another said 48 bible verses about trust. Or open your bible and just start reading. His promises are new and fresh every morning. But how can you stand on a promise if you don't know it. How can rely on His power if you don't access it. It is like having electricity to your home, the power is on and paid for, but you never flip that switch. And then you rail at the darkness. Don't rail at the darkness. Access the light and walk in it's freedom.
There is another verse that talks about even though we are sinful how we give good gifts to our children...Luke 11:13, "So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him." (NLV) One of the greatest gifts that God ever gave us was the gift of His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was given to us as a comforter. As a teacher. He is a counselor. He helps us recall those thing we know about God. The word for spirit in the Hebrew is ruwach, meaning breath or wind. And in the Greek pneuma, meaning current of air, breath or breeze. (Strong's Concordance).
When we are going through the doldrums there is a way out. What a great word that is...Merriam-Webster gives this information on the word, "Everyone gets the doldrums - a feeling of low spirits and lack of energy - every once in a while. The doldrums experienced by sailors, however, are usually of a different variety. In the mid-19th century, the word once reserved for a feeling of despondency came to be applied to certain tropical regions of the ocean marked by the absence of strong winds. Sailing vessels, reliant on wind propulsion, struggled to make headway in these regions, leading to long, arduous journeys." What a concise way to describe our lives. Those doldrums the sailors experienced were due to lack of wind in their sails. The doldrums in our life is due to the lack of wind, breeze, breathe of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We have a solution that those sailors did not. They could not just call up the wind to come and move them. We have the freedom and the ability to call upon the Holy Spirit to move in our lives and to blow away those dim clouds of despondency. To blast away that miasma of melancholy. To sweep away that hovering hopelessness. We have the breath of the Holy Spirit to get us out of those stagnant doldrums and into a fresh new day filled with His love, peace and joy. With the love of our Heavenly Father, with the joy of our salvation through Jesus and the breath of the Holy Spirit in our lives we will not have a long arduous journey, but a new adventure every day.
