Articles
How to Survive the Dark Days Intact
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1Peter 5:6-7)
In these two short sentences we discover three key truths which, when taken to heart, fully believed and applied to our lives, have the power to elevate us to joy, even in the midst of tumults and anxieties.
First, I must trust God enough to humbly let go of my will, my comfort, my pride, etc. and submit to God’s way of doing things and reacting to circumstances and people. I must let God direct my paths. Submission is a curious thing: the only time it really comes into play is when there’s a disagreement. If a husband and wife agree on something, neither has to submit to the other’s will to have fellowship – they agree! But if they disagree on something, one is going to have to submit to the other for them to walk together as one. It is precisely in the distracting circumstances, the days of sacrifice, the situations which challenge my pride, when brother disagrees with brother, when I must humbly submit to God’s way. He calls gently, “Try it my way.”
Second, I must always keep God’s promises in the forefront of my mind. He shows favor to the humble (1Peter 5:5). He will lift me up. Everyone of us spends some time in a shadowy valley from time to time, and must remember that for the one who is walking with Christ, at the end of that valley is the next mountain peak, and the view from there is awesome. He implores, “Trust Me.”
Third, I must always be confident that God cares for me when I am troubled. Whatever your valley, Jesus walked that same path before and wants to walk beside you in your valley. A friend recently told me of their prayer, “God, help me in my struggle, but please don’t let that struggle be X.” I reminded them that was the same prayer Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, “let this cup pass from me,” and he humbly added, “your will be done.” He’s been there and knows the way through is paved with the joy found in the hope of glory at the end: “For the joy set before him he endured the cross.” (Hebrews 12:2) We can’t always know the specifics of why we suffer, but we can always know this: God cares for us so much he came to Earth and experienced the full extent of our suffering – he put himself on a cross to become our Savior, our High Priest, our King. He smiles, and says, “I love you.”
