I remember many times in my life, hurting physically, being so fatigued or depressed and nothing seemed to help. Nothing even sounded good to try; everything irritated me. I would turn to God in prayer, desperate for help and answers; but when they came I wasn’t satisfied with them. Convinced they wouldn’t work, I wouldn’t even consider them. I was caught up in a grumbling, selfish attitude; one that I wasn’t willing to part with. So I suffered, in the misery of my own making.

I cried out to God with my voice
To God with my voice; And He gave ear to me.

In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;
My hand was stretched out in the night

without ceasing; My soul refused to be comforted.

Psalm 77:1-2

Have you ever felt this way? Have you ever reacted like I did? It sounds ridiculous, but it happens so many times with believers. Our sinful flesh rears its head, keeping us from the comfort that God is trying to offer. We listen to the enemy whispering despair, darkness to our souls; instead of listening to the One who can bring us into the light of His help and healing ways.

I remembered God, and was troubled;
I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I have considered the days of old,
The years of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart,
And my spirit makes diligent search.

Psalm 77:3-6

Then, because we continue to listen to the enemy, our thoughts continue to spiral, ever downward, ever farther from the Holy Spirit’s offer of comfort and we feel worse than ever. Our mind and spirit has given in to despair and we are thinking that this will never end.

We start to think and feel that God Himself has distanced Himself. We begin to worry that He has turned from us, not caring about us, or is punishing us. We have closed ourselves off from the voice of the Holy Spirit. The enemy’s voice grows ever stronger.

Will the Lord cast off forever?And will He be favorable no more? Has His mercy ceased forever?
Has His promise failed forevermore?

Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Selah.

And I said, “This is my anguish…”

Psalm 77:7-10a

This was the thought process of my own mind in the days before I found and accepted true grace and the whole, solid, unconditional love of God. Since I have accepted that His unconditional love is to be trusted and His Grace is freely offered, I now have more success in fighting the enemy when He brings these things to my mind. I am not perfect, I still fall into the same old trap at times, but those times are becoming less and less as I work to grow closer to Him.

But the Holy Spirit is persistent, thank goodness! He doesn’t give up on any of God’s children. He turns our thoughts to things of God. Things from His word we know to be true and right. Things that God has done before; for us or for others. The Holy Spirit, our ever present Helper, will also have other believers reach out to us with encouragement and help. He will cause others to be burdened to pray for you. He does this because He loves us and wants to turn our thoughts back to Him.

But I will remember the years of the right hand

of the Most High.” I will remember the works

of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all Your work,

And talk of Your deeds.

Psalm 77:10b-12

These are the things that give us hope. If we allow our minds to dwell on the deeds that we read of and remember, we will be helped, we will be lifted up. Our pain will be eased. Because deep down inside God’s Spirit is telling us they can be trusted.

A child of the King, listening to the whispers of the Holy Spirit cannot remember the goodness of the Lord without it having a positive effect on his or her life. It will cause us to open up ourselves to receiving God’s help and His answers to our prayers, the way He wanted to in the first place.

All of us suffer or are troubled with things in this life we live. As believers we need to be more diligent to immediately recognize the enemies tactics when they strike; so we can respond with prayer against them. The more we do so, the easier it becomes. The closer to God we grow, the more apparent the devil’s schemes will appear and we will find it easier to avoid his traps.

Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary;
Who is so great a God as our God?
You are the God who does wonders;
You have declared Your strength

among the peoples.

Psalm 77:13-14

Try to continuously dwell on the goodness of God and what He has done. This alone will go a long way toward keeping a positive outlook and attitude. If you have ever felt this way or do now, please feel free to tell me about it, or ask for prayer.

Until next time, God bless.

~Brenda

 

Photo credit: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/zedzap/6215224051/”>Nick Kenrick.</a> on <a href=”https://visualhunt.com”>Visualhunt</a&gt; / <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/”&gt; CC BY-NC-SA</a>