I am going through a season right now where life is one step forward ten steps back. Every turn produces yet another struggle. Just when it seems things are going to ease up, some other proverbial shoe drops, and whoever is dropping those shoes is getting them from Imelda Marcos’ closet, because there are a lot of them…
So what do you do? You can survive anything for a time, but what about day after day, week after week, month after month, and in some cases, year after year of insurmountable odds? What do you do during those times that nothing that anyone says makes a difference because you know way deep down another disappointment is around the corner?
The bad news? There is no easy answer. I know you were expecting some profound revelation, but the reality is we live in a fallen, sinful world and there is nothing we can do to avoid pain and struggle (Genesis 3:17-19). So, how then do you cope? First, I am going to assume that your hope is in the Lord (Psalm 33:22, Psalm 38:15, Jeremiah 17:7, Lamentations 3:24, and many more). If not, then nothing I say will make sense. Unless you first place your hope there, then, well, you have no hope.
Here is a list of some things that you can do to help you through these seasons of struggle:
Pray (Psalm 55:22). God wants to be there for you. He should be the One you turn to before anyone, or anything, else. The only way to do that is to talk to Him! What makes God the perfect person to turn to is His consistency. You never have to wonder what God will say, because he has already told us in His Word (more later). We will discuss the value of friendships later, too, but even friends will fail sometimes (let’s face it – they live in the same fallen world you do). God, however, never changes (Hebrews 13:8). He will always be there when you call out to Him (Psalm 18:6). I learned recently about a great acronym to use when praying – ACTS. It stands for:
Adoration (of God)
Conviction/Confession (of our sins)
Thanksgiving (to God)
Supplication (for ourselves, but especially for others)
If you aren’t currently modeling your prayers like this, you should try it. Spend about 2-3 minutes in each category at first, and then build from there. Often we go straight to God and start asking for stuff. Which is fine. God wants us to ask (John 11:22). But God also demands worship, and is worthy of worship (Psalm 99:5). Change the focus of your prayer life to worship of God and to God and before you know it you will be more focused on these things, and not the issues of life. Granted, they won’t go away, but your heart will be a little less heavy (Proverbs 28:14).
Praise God through singing (1 Chronicles 16:9). Song has always been a way to affect mood. You can become blue, you can become solemn, and you can become joyous – all through the influence of song. Why not direct that song to the Lord? Song is important in the Bible, too. Rather than give many, many references just start at Psalm 1 and start reading. You will find more references in this book to song than any other, although the theme is prominent throughout the Bible. After all, it is a hymn book. The best “catch all” reference is, of course, Ephesians 5:19-20. This passage tells us to sing for the express purpose of “giving thanks always for all things to God.” Check out Colossians 3:16, too. How do you get started? I highly recommend a book called Then Sings My Soul by Robert Morgan. Robert has a gift with story. Robert put together a book with the background of 150 hymns. On the left side page the book also has the words and music to each hymn. Here you can find out many, many hymns were born out of adversity. They are wonderful stories, and to have the words and music right there means only one book to carry. If you make it through that one, he also wrote a “sequel” called Then Sings My Soul, Book 2 with another 150 hymns. You will be surprised at how quickly you will forget your worries when you focus on God through song. You will have no choice but to rejoice, and your spirit will certainly be lifted.
Memorize Scripture (Psalm 119:114). On November 8, 1965, Howard Rutledge’s plane was shot down over North Vietnam. He was captured and held prisoner for seven years. He endured brutal torture, sickness, famine and loneliness like nothing we could ever imagine. He suffered all day, every day. How could anyone survive such unbelievable experiences? Through the power of memory.
Captain Rutledge recounts his experience as a POW, and how the memorization of Scripture became vitally important to his survival, in his book In the Presence of Mine Enemies:
Most of my fellow prisoners were struggling like me to rediscover faith, to reconstruct workable value systems. Harry Jenkins lived in a cell nearby during much of my captivity. Often we would use those priceless seconds of communication in a day to help one another recall Scripture verses and stories.
One day I heard him whistle. When the cell block was clear, I waited for his communication, thinking it to be some important news. “I got a new one,” he said. “I don’t know where it comes from or why I remember it, but it’s a story about Ruth and Naomi.” He then went on to tell that ancient story of Ruth following Naomi into a hostile new land and finding God’s presence and protection there. Harry’s urgent news was two thousand years old. It may not seem important to prison life, but we lived off that story for days, rebuilding it, thinking about what it meant, and applying God’s ancient words to our predicament.
Everyone knew the Lord’s Prayer and the Twenty-third Psalm, but the camp favorite verse that everyone recalled first and quoted most often is found in the Book of John, third chapter, sixteenth verse. With Harry’s help I even reconstructed the seventeenth and eighteenth verses.
How I struggled t
o recall those Scriptures and hymns! I had spent my first eighteen years in a Southern Baptist Sunday School, and I was amazed at how much I could recall; regrettably, I had not seen then the importance of memorizing verses from the Bible, or learning gospel songs. Now, when I needed them, it was too late. I never dreamed that I would spend almost seven years (five of them in solitary confinement) in a prison in North Vietnam or that thinking about one memorized verse could have made the whole day bearable.
While many of us may never endure the untold horrors that Captain Rutledge endured, the power of Scripture memorization is just as important today. The ability to recall Scripture at moments of crises is fundamental to the survival of every Christian. There is tremendous blessing and power in knowing where various passages can be found and what kind of help and resources they can provide. I have peppered this post with lots of Scripture for this very reason. Commit these passages, and many more, to memory and add them to your arsenal in the fight we call daily living.
Find a friend (Proverbs 17:17). When I say friend, I mean one friend (Proverbs 12:26a). We’ve already discussed the pitfalls of running your mouth to everyone, but there is great strength in having one true friend to share your life and experiences with (Proverbs 27:17). God is all we need, but the void left in our hearts through the fall is oft times made more palatable by having someone physical there with us. The idea isn’t to replace God with this friend, but it is helpful to have someone that that will tell you what you need to hear (Proverbs 27:6a). The Bible also tells us that sometimes that friend can be more accessible than family (Proverbs 27:10b), and that this same friend can even be better than family (Proverbs 18:24).
These are some methods I am employing as I walk through this valley. I wish there was an easy answer, but there isn’t. However, I know that God will supply all my needs (Philippians 4:19) and that He is in control (1 Samuel 2:6-9) and will never over-burden me (1 Corinthians 10:13), even when it feels like it.