August is slowly limping along, isn’t it? And the week ahead is crammed full of troubles of its own.
Corona is not going away. Fires rage in California. Two storms are on a collision course with Louisiana. And education systems everywhere are riddled with virtual snafus.
We are certainly being assaulted by worldly woes.
There’s no running away (try as we might).
There’s no pretending it away . . . denying it away . . . or wishing it away.
The present is indeed present. There is no escaping it (not by endless scrolling or binge-watching).
There is only battle.
And part of that battle is to remain faithful.
To keep from falling into the enticing, entangling, empty arms of the world—and hold fast to Jesus.
I came across this gem in one of my morning reads recently:
In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord. He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.” But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel (2 Chronicles 28:22-23).
Ahaz was heaped in trouble.
Then, he made matters worse.
Troubled times are no time to run from God. It’s precisely the time to run to Him.
Ahab added consequence to his current consequence. Unnecessary sacrifice to sacrifice. The downfall of others to his own downfall. And, I imagine, regret in an already regrettable circumstance.
He thought something else could save him.
It sounds preposterous, but it actually is easy to add weight to an already heavy load. And make the difficult even more difficult.
And it’s by becoming unfaithful to the Lord.
Faithfulness is armor for the battle.
Cling to Jesus in these troubled times. Allow His perspective to guide you. Because aren’t we learning firsthand what works . . . and what doesn’t?
We are learning that all the things that are failing right now – things in which we had placed our trust – are not the source of true hope . . . stability . . . or joy.
I posed in my previous post that these trials are providing opportunity to deepen our relationship with our Father-God. To do so is to turn to Him when tempted to turn and run. To abandon Him is to make matters worse. But to hold to His loving embrace is to thrive—even in suffering.
And you won’t miss out on what He is able to do through it all.
