Imagine working hard and finding satisfaction in your work in a field you became quite good at for many years. Everything you did, you offered to the Lord for His Glory. You did not view work as a grind but as purposeful and as worship to the Almighty. You were excited to awake each morning and jump right in. On Sunday evenings, you did not dread the next day, but looked forward to returning to work with eager anticipation,. In work you could serve the King of Kings. Some days were hard, but you were able to problem-solve and create new and better solutions and processes, blessing all those who were connected with you and would come after you. You were building a legacy.
You expected a triumphant ending to this long, road fraught with many joys, sacrifices, blood, sweat, and tears. However, this was not the ending you received. Instead of a well deserved promotion replete with joyous celebration – the path came to a dead end. All progress forward was suddenly halted. But you did nothing wrong. You could not turn to the right or left, you could not go around this blockage that was placed in this path not because of you, but in spite of you. It was erected, reinforced, and stabilized by others who weren’t what they ought to have been. This joyous role was torn from your hands. What do you do?
Beloveds, this “work” could be many things – a ministry, a marital relationship, a career. It is an unexpected stoppage in your walk with the Lord. When entering into such a hard season of the unexpected halts, what do we do?
Psalm 42 comes to mind. David was at the end of his rope, end of his strength, end of his hope, but He called out to the Lord Almighty. We see his internal struggles, we see his soul cast down many times in his lifetime. We see his very frame shaken. Sometimes we fear feeling this deep anguish, but what if we were brave enough to feel it openly before the Lord? What if we stopped, stilled our hearts, and sought His face on what to do next? What if we cried out to God instead of busying ourselves with whatever we could get our hands on to distract ourselves from this insurmountable block to make us feel like we still mattered and that all the efforts we expended over the years was not for nothing. Beloved, know that when we come to a place of seemingly hopelessness, these are lies. The Lord has seen every effort, counted every key stroke, every enth of strength you offered to the tasks He gave you to do in the previous season. The lie is that there is no hope for the future, but the Truth of God’s word in such a situation is limitless. He can make a new way unexpected.
In David’s case, when he was anointed King by Samuel, but Saul sought to annihilate him, it was a temporary season of despair. There is always hope, beloved. Weeping may remain for a night, but joy comes in the morning. King David cried out to the Lord and laid bare his sorrows and feelings of discouragement and he ultimately fulfilled His purpose from the Lord. In the season of his struggle, David unearthed his cries before the Lord and asked himself some hard questions, then proclaimed in faith the final outcome to his story: “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”
In whatever circumstance you find yourself in, do not give up, never give up on what the Lord can do in and through you. When we are faced with dire circumstances, let us always turn to God. His ways are higher than our ways, His will is to bless, give life, and raise up those who are cast down. His very nature is to creativity, goodness, mercy, and everlasting kindness. Perhaps this block was part of His plan for you. He is faithful to guide us as a careful Shepherd watches and leads his sheep. We are the sheep of His pasture. We need not be discouraged at the unfair and unexpected, but trust the Lord to do exceedingly more than we ask or imagine.
Conversely, the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. To impress upon us the lie that there is no hope, to tempt us to rail against others who may have caused the negative outcome. Do not be tempted to walk in unforgiveness or hold against others what they stole from you or put in your path as a blockage. Rather, cry out to God, and put your hope in Him.
The hope is that Jesus can lead us on to green pastures and restore our souls. He can use what the enemy meant to destroy us as an alter where we choose to forgive and offer our hopes, dreams, fears, regrets, and other feelings and facts to Him. It can be a place not of ending, but of a new beginning. When the Lord builds the house the laborers do not labor in vain. When we walk in His fresh anointing He can strengthen us to bend bars of iron, He can broaden the path (a new path) beneath us, He can lead us to heights we have not known or imagined and it is He alone who will strengthen our ankles to stand on these heights so they will not turn. He can speed up our next pace to make our efforts even more efficient to create and expand in something new. It’s not too late.
The Lord is with you, beloved. Let all the hurt and regret go, do not try to bare the weight of figuring out the reason or “what you could have done differently” – when we let the Lord order our steps we do the best we can with what we know and where we are at – don’t’ second guess that. Even if we could have done better, the Lord can mend that as well. He can restore the years the locusts have eaten.
Ponder this…what could He be leading you into now? What way will He make? Is he waiting on us to stop fighting and railing against the outcome of days gone by and, instead, stand in strength and courage to continue forward. We press on to the high calling of Jesus Christ, to know Him, to serve Him in all we do, to worship Him with all we are. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me bless His Holy Name. Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
Psalm 42:1-11
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng. Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life.
I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.