Conversations, at times, can be mundane. One minute we might be talking about a basketball game the next maybe something more specific to our jobs. Today a few friends shared some heavy things they were going through. One friend relayed to us the situation she was going through. She described how her mother is in the hospital related to spinal injuries related to spinal stenosis. She included how this financial burden was going to break her mom and her boyfriend. Another friend shared how her daughter has started experimenting again and believes she has become addicted to meth. She described how her daughter is in the hospital for psych issues and may be in there for some time. As of right now, there is nothing set up for rehab but the doctors in the hospital are working on getting her admitted to a rehab facility before discharge. All of this has created an incredible burden on my friends and has made just basic tasks seemingly impossible or at least taking great effort in concentration to accomplish.
My wife and I are not without our own burdens. We are presently starting our last round of medications for infertility. If this fails, we will be left with a decision to either adopt or attempt IVF. The reason this is so difficult is my wife’s desire is to have a baby. This past Mother’s Day and each past one has proven and may prove to be difficult seeing so many expectant mothers and mothers who have already have children. Children are a blessing from God, and when God chooses to close this possibility, it is as if He has decided to withhold His blessings. Psalm 127 says Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.
I am not trying to compare my friend’s situation to ours. Each person experiences life, grief, heartache, differently and to assume I know what my friends are going through based on our situation is disingenuous and takes away from her own desperate situation. But what is interesting is to look how we are both handling our cases.

My friends used adjectives to describe their emotional state with words like despair, depressed, anguish, hopeless… It is true that even those who believe in Jesus Christ will have these same feelings. If one lives long enough, there will be this sense of hopelessness at times. David, one of the greatest Kings in Israel’s history and writer of the majority of the book of Psalms, demonstrates his anguish through writing. Just a brief look at some phrases David used when feeling distraught “How long Lord would you forget about me” “why, my soul, are you downcast” (Psalm 13, Psalm 42:5) Also, 2 Samuel 12:15-23 describes the loss of his son. Further, Elijah had a season of depression wishing he would die due to the fact the queen wanted him dead (1 Kings 19:4). The disciples feared for their lives in the middle of a storm (Mark 4:38 and Mt 8:25), Job lost all his children and had several requests of death (Job 3:11 and 3:26 only a brief example), Jonah thought death would be better than life (Jonah 4:3 and 9), Moses was upset over his people’s sin (Ex32:32), the entire book of Lamentations shows Jerimiah wrestling with great depression and/or fear. Here is the thing, no matter who we are, who we believe in, how much faith we have, we WILL all have these moments or seasons where we wake up thinking how great life is but will end up laying down at night wondering how our lives fell apart so rapidly.

The number one reason why people refuse to believe in God is this issue. When life becomes too much to bear and we don’t even have the strength to get up in the morning the complaint is “why did God allow this to happen to me”. The thing is these moments happen to everyone! What is needed when they happen is a faith that has its anchor in something more than the situations we find ourselves in. The world does not need a sunny morning kind of faith. No one is looking for a faith that hopes for a last-second score for the win. Those people in our lives are thirsty for a faith that has the ability to defiantly stand in the midst of life’s hurricanes to declare boldly that “even though my life is wrecked right now, I WILL continue to hope and put my faith in someone much bigger than my present situation.”

The problem is not that we experience moments of depression it is that we live in a society that offers no hope and no promises in the midst of these times. For someone like my friends, I have no idea where they are pulling their strength from (I should have talked about how Christ is my rock and why but in times like these people do not want nor are they looking for a solution but are searching for comfort and sympathy).  So I did not bring this up. I do know that wherever it is, it will, at some point fail. Maybe it is his friends, what happens when his friends get too busy or move to another part of the country? Perhaps it is relatives, but what happens when they become sick and can no longer offer support? Maybe it is within himself. But even there he knows himself well enough to realize that he lacks what he needs to be able to have confidence through the stormy gale. Each of us may try to hide our internal shortcomings through many and various ways but each of know that we are still lacking

Ultimately our issues are that we consistently look for an anchor in these storms horizontally. What do I mean by this? The problem is not that we face times of heartache and trial because everyone who has ever lived has confronted these moments. But it is that the security, hope, and promises we search for in the midst of these moments are sought for in other people. We turn to friends, family, doctors, therapists, even ourselves to take care of a problem that is much bigger than any of these entities can handle, either combined or separate. When we decide to find our peace in things that were not made to handle these situations we will only ever be let down. What does this do to a person? Think about it, when we are at our most vulnerable and we are desperate for some hope what happens when everywhere we turn we can’t find hope? I have heard this being compared to drowning at sea in the middle of a hurricane. We want a light in the distance coming to our side. We want that life raft but everywhere we look for help cannot sustain the storm with us. Even after a while friends and family will begin to offer solutions on how to get out or they will just drift away leaving us to wonder why they left. Once we feel betrayed and/or abandoned it is easy to sink deeper and deeper into the hopelessness that seems to be a defining factor in our society.

Thankfully there remains a promise that dares to defy this hopelessness. From these promises comes a declaration of “even though, I will!” I can stand in the middle of the storm and defiantly look Satan and the forces of darkness in the face and boldly declare “even though you look to destroy me I WILL not stop praising the One whom I owe everything to.” I am able to cling to the same statement Job spoke in Job 42:2 “I KNOW that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” Look at David’s faith in his creator in Psalm 23 “Even though I walk through the darkest valley; I WILL fear no evil.” Psalm 27 “The LORD is my salvation, of whom shall I be afraid”? Job 13:15 “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” John writes in Revelation 2:10 “Fear none of those things which you shall suffer…Be faithful even to the point of death and I WILL give you life as your victors crown”.

All through the Bible, we see men and women facing horrible, disastrous, and fearful moments or even seasons or years. But each one knew where to turn their eyes. It was not to those around them but to The Most High God! In a story in Acts; Paul and Silas were thrown into prison for costing some influential people in Philippi a lot of money (Acts 16:16-40) while in jail they began singing songs to Christ. Why? Because they knew even in a situation where they were beaten, flogged, and left to die they knew who it was that would have the last word. When we keep our focus continually on Him, which is much easier to say than do, we see how much He can be glorified even in our deepest pain and suffering. Not only that but He also promises to be at our side and will walk with us as we go through anything that we may have to face. In this, we are promised we would never have to face the storms of life without someone who has been through the worst that life has to offer.

The difference between my friends and my wife and I is not merely circumstances it is where we are finding our hope. By looking to friends or family we are left with inadequate people who are having trouble figuring out their own lives. For anyone who finds their hope in Christ, they have hope in someone who has been through the worst humanity had to offer, so He is able to sympathize with anything we are going through. He promises to be with us and go through these life-changing events with us. He is also the one who can guarantee that there will serve a purpose to all pain and sorrow. Above all, He is the ONLY one who can ensure these promises. Coming from anyone else these are empty promises but coming from the one who spoke stars into existence, is obeyed by the oceans and mountains, and who defeated death, these promises are not hollow. In fact, no other person, good teacher, founder of faith, religion, or faith, offers what Christ offers to those who follow Him. A promise that He WILL be with us as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death! Because we know He is there with us we are freed from fear. Even in death, those who follow Christ have the promise of a restored life much better than anything this world ever could offer. So in the circumstances, we are offered a promise of companionship and peace; if the event leads to death, we are promised an eternity that cannot ever compare to what this present world has to offer. In life, we are given peace, hope, and strength. In death, we are provided abundant life, restored relationships, and an eternity of unbridled happiness.

What do we need, though, to possess this kind of peace and comfort in His promises? Read 2 Kings 6. Being surrounded by his enemies and seemingly in a most desperate situation that would result in death, Elisha had a sense of peace that his servant was unable to possess. Elisha’s servant was focused only on the visible and earthly situation. He feared for his life. But Elisha knew better why? Because He saw what his servant could not. Elisha saw the armies of God surrounding those who would look to kill Elisha. Elisha prayed that his servant’s eyes would be open. Once he also saw the army of The Lord a peace and calm came over him. The prayer we need, the prayer everyone needs, is that God will open our eyes. It is not until we see that God indeed is in control and that His plans will never be thwarted and that He truly loves us that we will be able to have this assuredness that allows us to rest in His promises. In short, we need God to open our eyes.

To have this kind of peace in the midst of the worst storms, our eyes have got to be opened to the things of God. How does this happen? By making a purposeful and concerted effort to spend time in His word. No one will ever be able to weather the storms of life with grace and peace without spending time with the One who originated such amazing promises. God wants you to be at peace as well, why? Because how is He glorified when we act like the world? How does He receive praise when we worry? When we believe the solution comes from within or from a horizontal source, we know there is no guarantee. It’s only in Him we are promised a sense of peace that surpasses understanding. So it’s only in Him we find peace in the storm and an anchor for our souls. Because of this peace and anchor, our lives point to how much bigger God is then the problems we are facing. In that, He receives the worship and honor that is due Him. It then becomes so important to spend time in His word and meditating on Him when life is not so turbulent so when these times do come, and they will, the anchor we need will be established enough to support us in the middle of the storm.

Sometimes a situation is based on a person whether friend, family or co-worker. These people may be the orchestrator of our darkest night. Or we may believe we are the type of person that has no enemies. Even then there are still people that if we found out had a bad day we would, maybe internally, throw a bit of a party.  If these people receive a promotion, we may often question “why them” more than stating “good for them.”  If we are able to bless and not curse those who have harmed us we will be able to prove that we are men and women of great faith. Through this kind of defiant faith, we should be able to see a progression from a self-pity party to one that honestly is seeking to bless those who curse us. I am NOT saying that boundaries are not needed. Sometimes limitations are required, but this should not ever be an excuse to not continually try to bless those who curse us.

But someone may ask “Why should I not want to see them destroyed?” Because this is the gospel. If God chose to do this kind of thing toward me when I was His enemy than I would have been destroyed years ago. He had every right to kill me for not giving Him the worship He is due. Every day I wake up and most mornings I take it for granted. I can see, I also know there are people out there that cannot but I do not believe I have ever thanked Him for this ability. I have taken several flights to several destinations and never once did I worry about nor thank God for a safe journey. Again I took those for granted. But finally, even while I was His enemy, He CHOSE not to kill me but instead, He chose to kill His Son! In doing this, He made His one time enemy a child of His. By blessing our enemies, we have the ability to show them what the gospel is all about, point them to Him through our unyielding faith, and transform an enemy into a brother or sister in Christ.