As typically happens, I found myself surfing the internet
this evening in search of nothing in particular. I hit my usual spots-email,
Facebook, the video highlights on the Bundesliga site (yeah, I’m a sucker for
German fußball-though I only catch about every 4th or 5th
word of the announcer). When it hit me that I had not recently checked out my
own church’s website in several weeks, and no this isn’t a shameless plug for
GoldenCommunity.org but if you’re so inclined you should check it out. I was curious to see what Mike had been
inspired to post to the site and found that we now have a sermon online. It was
from a couple weeks ago and discussed what overcoming looks like in light of
John 16:33. I was there when this lesson was taught, yet I felt compelled to
listen in again.
The last few weeks have been a bit rough in our home,
especially on the physical health side. I was, and to a point still am,
struggling through the days. At times I felt like God had left us to go through
these troubles alone or that He was ignoring our cries to make things
better. But, there were other times
when I was drawn even closer to Him, seeking Him out and becoming more reliant
on His strength and not that which was dwindling within me. Tonight was
difficult and seemed destined to end in a mass of tears and pain. But, as the
hours ran down on the evening, I sat here at the computer and took in the words
of Jesus “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In
this world there will be tribulation, but take courage for I have overcome the
world.”
As I listened to the lesson this second time I was really
convicted about what my attitude should be during these struggles. I have no doubts that I should have faith
that God can and will provide healing. I truly believe that we should expect
God to provide the best for His children. However, I shouldn’t just be seeking
relief. Rather, I need to be allowing Him to work in me and use His strength to
not just endure these troubles but to conquer them, to overcome. God brings us to these places, or allows us
to fall into them, for a reason or maybe multiple reasons. The most important
of which, in my opinion anyway, is to teach us to look to Him. Putting aside
our fear, anger and frustration and turning to Jesus to guide us through. We
have been commanded to take courage, this will usually require a strength and
perspective we do not possess on our own. Instead, we follow and lean on the
all-powerful Creator to push us on.
With this reminder and refocus, I am feeling stronger to
face the challenges ahead. If you are struggling, with anything, take courage.
Read the passage in John and pray to God about it; ask Him what this means in
your situation. If you have some time, listen to the sermon. It’s a different
take than you might normally hear from the church-at-large about what life will
or should be like for the Believer. As a final note, when I was putting the
worship music set together for that Sunday, I was reminded of a song that I
think reinforces this idea. Check out “When Everything Falls” by Fee and I
think you’ll see what I mean (sometimes it’s good to have some music to go with
your study).
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