Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me,
For I am desolate and afflicted.

Psalm 25:16

How many times have you felt like this? I know I have. In our suffering,  of any type, it is easy to let ourselves come to feel this way. Having troubles wear us down as we dwell on them. They begin to take hold and become the one thing that keeps coming back to mind. The enemy puts thoughts into our mind that seem to run on a loop, over and over they play. If we don’t take action to stop that train of thought, they can begin to sink us into a swamp of despair, loneliness and desolation.

“Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 31:6

Feeling desolate reminds me of an empty desert. Dry, empty, forlorn and devoid of life. We can get to feeling this way if we let it go on long enough. The longer we allow it to continue, the farther away God seems. We start to think it was He Who left us, when in reality, we are the ones who closed ourselves off from Him.

Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

Ignoring the whispers of the Holy Spirit to call out to the Father for help, we curl up with our backs to Him, our minds fixed on our problems instead of being fixed on Him. In our despair, we have concentrated on ‘self’. We allowed the enemy to put us in a cocoon of sorts, shutting out everything else as we concentrated on our feelings. Instead of reaching out to the only One who could help us, we sank deeper and deeper into the mire of self-inflicted suffering.

Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

Jeremiah 33:3

Since sin entered the world, this life was never meant to be easy. That is a fact. The bible clearly says that more than once. But, when you are a believer, we do not have to suffer on our own. As God loves us, He made a provision for that.

And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

John 14:16-18

We have a God, who never leaves us. Who loves us and wants what is best for us. Going through hard things teaches us to lean on Him, to use His strength to get us through. I don’t know of any Christian who would say that they went through a hard time and didn’t come out of it stronger; without learning something, without being able to see God helping them get through it. He loves to help us and ease our burdens and sufferings. All we have to do is reach out to Him and call His name.

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Matthew 11:28-29

When the enemy gets inside your head by putting thoughts of feeling unloved and abandoned, we need to remind him and ourselves that God promised to never leave us and that there is nothing that can separate us from His love.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35, 38-39

Look at the list in that verse! There is absolutely NOTHING that can separate you from God’s love. He stands up to His promises. If He says it, you can believe it.

He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds.

Psalm 147:3

Since through these verses, we have been reminded that He is always there for us, what are we to do when life gets us down? Call out to Him. Give everything over to Him. Doing so, shows two things. One- that we believe He is capable to help us, thus we are humbling ourselves and putting ourselves under His power and authority. Two- we are acknowledging that He loves and cares about us. These are two very important things in our relationship with Him.

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

1 Peter 5:6-7

All of these verses tell us of God’s love, care and concern for us, His children. They should also remind us of how important it is for us to learn His word, so when things begin to happen, we have them in hand to use them in our fight against the enemy. To remind ourselves of His steadfast love.

God knows best and he wants what is best for us. He wants to see us grow into the best we can be. So if trials and sufferings come our way, which they will, claim His promises, hold onto His mighty hand and He will be with you through it all.

Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Hebrews 13:20-21

Until next time, God bless.

~Brenda

Photo credit:  Iryna Melnyk/ stock.adobe.com