Stay The Course!

Sometimes I don't want a do the right thing. There are times that I'm waiting on God and I feel like I just cannot wait anymore. I get tired and weary and I get angry and frustrated. I just want relief!

Following God and staying faithful to Him becomes increasingly difficult when we've suffered for a long time. Whether you are suffering physically, emotionally, relationally- eventually we all feel like giving up sometimes.

In Psalm 119, David tells of a time when he had nothing left- he was at his end, tired, eyes failing, sorely afflicted, filled with anguish and grief. He was barely holding on and continuously asked that God would revive him and give him life again and again.

How do you stay the course when all you want to do is give up? You've asked for help over and over and it seems like there is no end in sight to your suffering?

What David did throughout Psalm 119 over and over and over again, was meditate on God's Word. David persistently cried out to God, he was in deep pain, he didn't know what to do about his situation.

But he knew how to focus his attention on what was right, what was good, what was loving and true.

He spoke to God about his pain, he asked for help and then he meditated on God's word and His testimonies.

He did not want to in his flesh. In his flesh he wanted to look upon idols, he wanted to be unfaithful, he wanted to let go and give himself over to robbery, sensuality and riches. Of course he did! We all do when we're tired and we've been waiting a long time. Those things bring an immediate sense of pleasure and relief from suffering. He knew that, we know it and the devil knows it too!

But David confessed it all to God.

His flesh was failing and he knew it! He didn't pretend that it wasn't happening or act like he had it all together or try not to think about it. In fact, he was very much conscious of his weaknesses. He basically said "God if you don't do something, I might lose it!"

It's not wrong to feel tempted, we all feel tempted to act out, but remember His grace is sufficient and it is in our weaknesses His power is made perfect (2 Cor 12:19). David understood that. So he resisted temptation by confessing to God how he truly felt, asking for help and deliverance as he clung to God's Word and His testimonies while he waited.

So I say to you today, whatever your temptation is, I know you are tired and weary.

Stay the course!

Focus all your attention, like a laser beam on God's Word. Learn to meditate on His promises. They will bring life back to your body and encouragement back to your soul. Your spirit will grow stronger. Remember Galatians 5:16 today, "But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God)."

We walk in the spirit when we learn how to make what God said more real than what the world says. It takes practice but there is no other way. We must meditate on His word. Isaiah 50:7 states it perfectly: "For the Lord God helps Me; therefore have I not been ashamed or confounded. Therefore have I set My face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame."

Set your face like flint, that's what David did, that's what Isaiah did...that is what we are to do. You will not be put to shame, God will cause you to rise above the storm, you will get to the other side and peace will come.

-Christina Samyan, MSW, LCSW