Struggling Alone?

Good morning on a dreary-looking Monday. Does it feel as though your prayer life is one full of grey, fuzzy clouds. Not the clouds that promise rain or shade from the summer sun, but the fuzzy, close clouds that yield in all directions and seem to prevent prayer from going anywhere. The struggle to remain faithful seems cut off from other believers. The adversarial lion roars, but the direction of attack is at once uncertain and from all directions. The prayer and supplication with thanksgiving produces what appears to be nothing at all. Did not Paul tell us to be anxious for nothing right after that? What about "The LORD is at hand"? In the grey fuzziness of the trial of faith, we feel nothing and God's presence seems removed far away. Other believers seem right as rain, but contact with them is muted by that stifling dreariness in the faith trial. What is to be done about this? Perhaps nothing in the way we consider action.

Isaiah 40:31 tells us what is in store for us: "But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Great news! On wings of eagles we mount above the dreary clouds. The strength of those who wait on the LORD is renewed. When life calls for running, we shall not be weary. When life calls for a walking pace, we need not fear the fainting. Does this sound like only what will happen in heaven? The verse does not say anything about heaven. Dare we say the LORD cannot lift us up right now? Is it the time to doubt that the LORD cannot renew the strength of ten thousand others besides yourself?

In the struggle of faith which to us seems fought alone and unaided, we are renewed daily to endure. The trial shall pass. Our dear Lord Jesus will lead you and me out of the dark valley. If it seems that in your struggle, you can only reach ahead with one hand it is because the Savior's hand holds the other. Stare not into the grey and dreary world, look beside you and see the strength of the Savior. The One who conquered death and the grave stands with you in this struggle. The adversary may roar frightfully close, but the reason the Lord Jesus does not stand before you is in His gentle command, "Let the prince win his spurs." Put on the whole armor of God once more; take up your sword again. Let us put aside the dreary clouds of doubt and fight for the LORD again!

Bucky