He does not ignore those in trouble. He doesn’t hide from them but listens when they call out to him. LORD, I praise you in the great meeting of your people... Psalm 22:24-25
When battling discouragement, it is easy to feel isolated and alone. And that starts a vicious cycle that drives us deeper and deeper into negative thoughts and isolating ourselves.
And the last thing we can sense in those times is God's presence.
But the great thing about God is that He promises just the opposite of what we perceive. He promises not to ignore us, but to listen to us when we call out to Him.
And our response is praise.
But what if we started the praise part early? What if we decided we were going to start praising Him even before our struggle is resolved? What would we call that?
We would call that...faith.
How does this passage strike you?
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Praise. Whether it's in good times and bad, it can be a good thing. I like the Casting Crowns song, "Praise You in the Storm". It makes me get my mind off of my problems and on God. If I can only do that more. Oh, well. I'm still a work in progress. Peace.
ReplyDeleteOh, it HAS to start even long before the trouble even thinks of creeping in. Just as locking a door after the thief enters provides no security, trying to build faith in the midst of a downfall will likewise provide little relief.
ReplyDeleteCompounding this is that when our faith proves insufficient we blame God for ignoring us!
I don’t know how I could have survived the last few years without God and the people God has placed in our lives. We have lost one person in our immediate family every year for the past 4: My sister in law, my Father, my Mother and now my brother. If I expand the circle a bit, the number more than doubles.
My faith, while still far from where I want it to be, has proven sufficient to get me thru these losses. I am so glad I had secured the door long before.
But I could make it stronger….. and surely these times will.
So you could say I have faith that my faith will grow.