Thursday 25 September 2014

Proverbs 13:12 « Hope deferred makes the heart sick. »

You will never go far down the road of transformation if your heart is discouraged. The pain in the soul caused by our own personal defeats and the failures of others can bring about the worst of all discouragements.  And if left unattended the heart can sink into such despair that faith can no longer find the traction necessary to pull itself out.

Perhaps king David’s soul was beginning to slide into such a depression. The harsh reality of his failures were creating clouds of doubt within him and within the hearts of the people of Israel.  This messianic king was now the source of Israel’s shame.  He who had led the multitudes in shouts of triumph as the ark of the covenant was brought back to Jerusalem had broken his covenant with God; he lost the trust of the people. And dark clouds of hopeless were taking hold of his soul.  David was looking for some light at the end of the tunnel.

Perhaps you too have found yourself in the midst of the pain and sorrow caused by your sin, or the sin of another.  Being held in the vice grip of the consequences of bad choices is very difficult.  We can descend to such a place of darkness in our soul that we begin to ask the question, “Is life worth living?”  We wake up in the morning not sure how we will get through the day.  We lose our appetite for living.  And in the worst of moments we might even begin wondering if bringing an abrupt end to our life wouldn’t be the best of all of our options.

In Psalm 51 David prayed and said, Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.  Yes we are crying out to God for holy transformation. But in the process we need something that will encourage us and restore our hope.  Without this we will not press on to the end.

There will be voices of condemnation, guilt, self-pity, anger, and hopelessness that will battle with your mind.  You must focus and give strong attention to what God is saying.  True repentance brings forth life.  Condemnation brings forth death.  If you are genuinely being broken by God, and transformed by His Holy Spirit, then ultimately He will lead you to the place of joy in Him.

So today, focus your thoughts on God’s grace and abilities working inside you to bring you down the road of transformation.