In this world we have so many hurting people who through the actions of themselves or their spouse are hurting. Alone. Desperate. Those who have been betrayed, cast aside, and rejected. This kind of betrayal hurts more than any other type. Someone you know, loved and had a life with just told you that you were no longer good enough. That you no longer were acceptable to them.
When the one who said forever with you decides forever is too long. When you have someone who has worked and cried and loved with you decide they need something else.
This kind of pain lingers for years. you blame yourself. You question/doubt God for allowing this. You try to rationalize, to compensate. Many times you look for pain relief in the bottle, in the arms of strangers, in medication. You scream at the heavens and ask why? I did nothing wrong! Why did this happen to me? Bring them back, fix this! But there is no fix. There is no resolution that can satisfy the pain and the hurt and the anguish inside you.
We have so many walking wounded from this type of situation. We have the children, the hurt spouses and the ones who caused the hurt.
There is an example of this type of situation in the Bible. Actually there are several but I am going to just use one.
Genesis 16:1-11 King James Version (KJV)
16 Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
3 And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee.
6 But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thine hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.
7 And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.
9 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
10 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
11 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.
When the one who said forever with you decides forever is too long. When you have someone who has worked and cried and loved with you decide they need something else.
This kind of pain lingers for years. you blame yourself. You question/doubt God for allowing this. You try to rationalize, to compensate. Many times you look for pain relief in the bottle, in the arms of strangers, in medication. You scream at the heavens and ask why? I did nothing wrong! Why did this happen to me? Bring them back, fix this! But there is no fix. There is no resolution that can satisfy the pain and the hurt and the anguish inside you.
We have so many walking wounded from this type of situation. We have the children, the hurt spouses and the ones who caused the hurt.
There is an example of this type of situation in the Bible. Actually there are several but I am going to just use one.
Genesis 16:1-11 King James Version (KJV)
16 Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
3 And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee.
6 But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thine hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.
7 And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.
9 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
10 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
11 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.
Sarah tried to make God's will happen by her own hand. She tried to manipulate situations to her own ends. Hagar paid the price. Hagar was a maid-servant and did what she was told to do.
She was put into a situation, that went completely south through no fault of her own.
Here is what I want you to see. When she was lost, adrift in the wilderness and wanted to die due to her situation being so bad she called on the Lord. He Heard! And He answered! The Lord God Jehovah heard her affliction!
She may have been lost, but God knew where to look. She may have been cast out, distraught, dejected but God knew and came to her.
In the times of darkest despair, deepest hurt look to God. He knows where you are, He knows what you are going through. He knows the pain you are feeling. When these things happen to us it is not God who moves but us, We are the ones who leave the path.
When things happen we are so ready to doubt God, to cast Him aside. We feel He left us and that He allowed this to happen so it's His fault.
It isn't.
God put us here on earth to fellowship with Him, to walk with Him. Whether we do that or not is up to us. We can not account for the things that are done around us, or to us. But we can account for our actions/ reactions.
God gave man free will. The option to decide what to do. There is always a choice to be made in everything we do. Sometimes people make the wrong ones and it affects us. Sometimes we stray and affect those around us.
We have choices:
Whether we stray from the path of God's will or stay on it.
Whether we do the right thing and honor our commitments or stray and break those vows.
Whether we stand and fight for our families or give in to sin and let go of our God-given responsibilities.
Whether we pray to God and wait for Him or do we try to manipulate our situation to what we think it should be.
We are human. We make mistakes. So do the people in our lives. God knows this. Thankfully He doesn't quit loving us when we feel unlovable. when we screw up. When we leave the path He has laid before us.
That path has forks in it. We don't always take the right one but God has given us the signs to get back to it. He has given us the map to the desert and all we have to do is read it and listen to Him calling us back to the path again. He always knows where His children are.
The 2nd hardest part of the situations in your life to handle are the times you need to wait on God. Wait for His Will to be made manifest. Wait for Him to work so the situation can be used for His honor and Glory. Waiting is so very hard. We see time in days weeks months and years. God sees it in a whole different way. Time is a man made invention. God is not on our timetable.
When someone else makes a decision and we are deeply affected by it we can not unmake their decision. We do however have to live with it. We do have to deal with the fallout from it.
Even harder in the waiting is making sure you stay on the path of God's Will for you. Making sure that in all things you maintain your testimony, your fellowship with Him. Our most common reaction is to rebel. to go and turn from God because we only see the moment not the bigger picture.
God hears you in your affliction. God hears you in your pain. God knows. He hurts with us. He yearns to comfort you. Do not leave His side. Walk with Him even in the darkest of days.
No comments:
Post a Comment