For Times Like This

Written by Sister2Sister Contributor:  Marni Boland – Niagara Falls

 Maybe you are feeling it too. 

In distress,

In despair,

Under attack

Wondering why it seems like there is so much hurt, heartache, loneliness… heaviness of heart.  And I’m not talking about ‘out there’, in the world…  I’m talking right here in our own spiritual family, our own loved ones, our own sisters in the Lord.  Deep in the trenches of spiritual battle.

 Battling through marital issues, health issues, and pain

Combating overwhelming anxiety, worry and emotions

Fighting with mama bear claws for our cubs,

Loving through deepest heartache, and loss,

Kneeling side by side, praying vigilantly for comfort, relief and rescue

And HE knows, and HE sees.

Your Heavenly Abba Father, your Daddy, hears you and knows you are hurting. 

David was deep in battle.  He was surrounded by enemies on every side.  He was…

In distress,

In despair,

Under attack

And he did what we do, and are doing.  He cried out to His Father.

Ps.18 – I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies. The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called to the Lord;   I cried to my God for help…

This wasn’t a moment of, “things aren’t going well today” or “I’m feeling a little down.”

David was drowning.  He felt like he was being strangled.  He was absolutely finished,

DONE.

 It. Was. All. Just. Too. Much.

His Father…OUR Father, heard and answered.  Oh, not just a whispered, “I’m here”, but the Arnold Schwarzeneggar of all Daddy moments.  He heard and moved the heavens to answer his child’s call.

…From his temple he heard my voice;
    my cry came before him, into his ears.
⁷ The earth trembled and quaked,
    and the foundations of the mountains shook;
    they trembled because he was angry.
⁸ Smoke rose from his nostrils;
    consuming fire came from his mouth,
    burning coals blazed out of it.
⁹ He parted the heavens and came down;
    dark clouds were under his feet.
¹⁰ He mounted the cherubim and flew;
    he soared on the wings of the wind.
¹¹ He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
    the dark rain clouds of the sky.
¹² Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
    with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
¹³ The Lord thundered from heaven;
    the voice of the Most High resounded^]
14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,
    with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
¹⁵ The valleys of the sea were exposed
    and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, Lord,
    at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

Moms, you know that cry you hear from one of your children, the kind that radiates fear and urgency.  I know you know it.  The kind that makes you spring from the couch, drop the phone, or abandon whatever chore you were engaged in.  God responds in the same way. He is the ‘drop everything and run’ kind of Father… except that being the all-powerful, all-present God that He is, nothing is dropped and He doesn’t miss a beat.   He is the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort (2 Cor. 1:3).  His eyes are on those who fear Him, whose hope is in HIS unfailing LOVE (Ps. 33:18) He knows when HIS children are hurting, struggling, drowning…and HE is near to the brokenhearted (Ps.34:18)

He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
    he drew me out of deep waters.
¹⁷ He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
    from my foes, who were too strong for me.
¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
    but the Lord was my support.
¹⁹ He brought me out into a spacious place;
    he rescued me because he delighted in me

 

Sometimes the enemy just seems far too strong, doesn’t he?

The illness

The marital struggles

The parenting woes

The mental turmoil

The deep sorrow or heartache

The doubt

But God tells us, HIS daughters, that we don’t have to go through these things alone.  HE keeps us from going under (Ps.18:16), HE is our support (v.18), HE is our ROCK, our FORTRESS, our DELIVERER (Ps. 18:2).

My sisters,

I know things have been rough lately, perhaps they have been for a long time.

But know this:

He delights in you. (Ps18:19, Zeph.3:17)

 He never leaves your side. (Deut. 31:8)

 He will get you through. (Isa.58:11, Ps. 18:28)

‘For HE is the LORD your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, “Do not be afraid, I will help you”’  Isa. 41:13