Over all, trusting the Lord has not been a terribly difficult thing for me to do in my life. With deep gratitude I realize that I’ve had people around me that were worthy of keeping my trust, so it has been a natural thing to believe that my Heavenly Father is who He says He is: Faithful, Trustworthy, and True to His Word.
Before my dad died, one of the last things he said to me was that he believed that God had given me the gift of faith and an extra special ability to trust and believe God in the face of adversity. I have clung to that. I have clung to God. His faithfulness. His miraculous deeds He has worked on our behalf all of our lives. I watched God provide manna for my family growing up, and for my current family today. We have all we need plus more. God has been (and IS still) faithful, true, trustworthy.
But lately… I’ve been in a spiritual battle between knowing this and living it out in my mind – as in, I’m having to continually counsel my heart in the TRUTH that God is Faithful! And when I stop counseling my heart of this truth, my deceptive heart (Jeremiah 17:9-10) begins to believe that He has let us down in some way… Even though I KNOW this is a lie! (See Hebrews 13:5-6)
It’s crazy, but true, and only my husband knows that I’ve been battling this. I wouldn’t even type the words out loud right now unless God was leading me to share them, because I’m sensing that I’m not the only one with this struggle. Honestly, tears are streaming down my cheeks as I write this… I love the Lord so much, and I KNOW without a doubt that He loves me/us more than I can fathom… and I DO trust Him with and in everything. So, why am I having such a difficult time this week in this battle between faith and sight?
Actually, for me, I can list several reasons each in the spiritual, physical, and emotional realms that I personally believe are coming together at this moment to create my perfect storm. You may be able to do this in your life, too. Or not. Either way, one thing I DO know is that we can NOT go around with our faith shaken! We just can’t.
When my (your) “Shield of Faith” is shaken and dropped, we become wide-open targets for the enemy’s destroying, flaming arrows (Ephesians 6:16)!
Psalm 13 is where I’ve been with the Lord over the past few days:
1. How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
2 How long must I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart day after day?
How long will my enemy exalt himself and triumph over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
Give light (life) to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.
5 But I have trusted and relied on and been confident in Your lovingkindness and faithfulness;
My heart shall rejoice and delight in Your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.
Psalm 13 (Amp, 15)
So what are we to do if we have Shaken Faith?
Psalm 13: 5-6 holds the answer: Be confident in God’s lovingkindness and faithfulness. That confidence in God’s faithfulness will propel the cycle of rejoicing in the Truth that God loves us eternally and has has already saved us for Himself, leading us to sing praises to Him about that… which will turn our focuses off of ourselves and back on to Him, and then we will humbly realize that He has dealt bountifully with us.
Here’s the truth:
Today, somebody will get to rejoice. Either the enemy will rejoice over us and how we have given in to shaken faith…
OR
we can choose to rejoice in the Lord and in His lovingkindness and salvation.
There’s no other option. Period.
But how do we get from Shaken Faith to Rejoicing?
One way:
We are to run as fast as we can back to God’s Word. Any way we can get it – and cling to it as if it is breath and life… because it is!
Read God’s counsel in Proverbs 4:20-23 (NLT)
My child, pay attention to what I say.Listen carefully to my words.
Don’t lose sight of them.
Let them penetrate deep into your heart,
for they bring life to those who find them,
and healing to their whole body.
Guard your heart above all else,
for it determines the course of your life.
Proverbs 4:20-23
Psalm 119 is full of verses promising renewal and reviving of life through God’s Word. Below are just a few of these breath-giving verses. Are there any that represent the cry of your heart right now?
“My soul dissolves because of grief; Renew and strengthen me according to the promises of Your word.” Psalm 119:28
“According to Your steadfast love refresh me and give me life, so that I may keep and obey the testimony of Your mouth.” Psalm 119:88
“I am greatly afflicted; renew and revive me giving me life, O Lord, according to Your word.” Psalm 119:107
“Hear my voice according to Your steadfast lovingkindness; O Lord, renew and refresh me according to Your ordinances.” Psalm 119:149
“Consider how I love Your precepts; revive me and give me life, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness.” Psalm 110:159
For the last few days this is what I’ve been doing – running to the Word, looking for renewal and life, over and over again. It’s like breathing – Just as 0ne breath doesn’t sustain life, neither does one dose of Scripture sustain the shaken. So I’ve written some enemy-fighting-faith-building verses on my hand, some I put on notecards to carry around with me. I took a picture to have some on my phone, and some I posted around my house. I’m fixing it so that wherever I turn, there the Word is, and there I’ll breathe it in, and my soul is being revived. I’ve learned that’s called “counseling your own heart with Gods Word.” Look at what Jeremiah said about taking in God’s Word:
“Your words were found and I ate them,
And Your words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart;
For I have been called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts.”
Jeremiah 15:16
If you don’t know how to find God’s Word to help you counsel your heart, here are several quick ways that work for me:
1. Do a Google search for “verse about _________” and write in whatever you are struggling with. Lots of options will pop up on the page. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to what you need. Then look up the verse(s) in BibleGateway.com. Or most likely a verse listed in Biblehub.com will be one of your search returns. Head there. Scroll through the various translations of that verse, then read the brief devotion/explanation at the bottom of the page. Look to the right of the page for similar verses and continue your verse search there.
2. Go to ReviveOurHearts.com and type your needed topic in the search bar. Nancy DeMoss Woglemuth has a wealth of scripture-based material to point you to God’s Word and counsel through it. Caution: don’t lose time reading someone else’s words before you go to God’s Word. Get His Word first, then go back and read what Nancy and her guests have to share.
My friends, from time to time we will all experience what is known as “the dark night of the soul.” The beautiful thing is that we don’t have to live in that place. The SON will rise as we continue to press in to Him and cling to His Words as we counsel our hearts to trust the Lord.
I found a Smelling Coffee TV episode I did a few years back on “The Dark Night of the Soul” and God used this to speak into my life just this morning. If you have time, maybe it will be a word of encouragement for you, too. You can see it (or just listen to it) here.
(If you can’t see the embedded image, click here.) ((And if you CAN see it, it’s not too flattering a screen shot, is it? haha!))
So today my friends… Let’s Lift up our eyes to the Lord (Psalm 121), Eat up the Words of the Lord (*Jeremiah 15:16), and Armor up (*Ephesians 6:10-17) so God can Firm up our Shield of Faith that extinguishes all of the flaming arrows of the evil one!
He {God} only is my rock and my salvation;
My fortress and my defense, I will not be shaken or discouraged.
On God my salvation and my glory rest;
He is my rock of [unyielding] strength, my refuge is in God.
Trust [confidently] in Him at all times, O people;
Psalm 62:6-8 (Amp)
With love and prayers~
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