By: Mike Kelly
Retired Pastor
Hurting? Been betrayed? Struggling with health issues? Checkbook empty and credit cards maxed out? Marriage on the rocks? Kids won’t speak to you? Just got let go at work? Depressed? Suicidal?
“Well, just get up and pull yourself up by your bootstraps and get on with life!” “It’s time to put on your big girl panties and get going.”
Sounds like something one of John Wayne’s or James Cagney’s characters might have said back in the day.
And, it’s sort of how we often feel about people who are struggling with life too openly. “Oh, just Grow up!”
I’ll admit that sometimes I feel that way about certain people. But, God has a way of putting things in perspective and I’ll find myself overwhelmed with life and about to give up.
I know bootstraps don’t work and I don’t care how big the pants are, they don’t go far in helping me handle some of the stresses of life.
So, where should we go when life is just too much? King David said this: “You, {Oh, Lord} are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble, and surround me with songs of deliverance.”(Ps 32:7). That’s a pretty good confession on his reliance on God in the midst of difficulty.
Truthfully, there are just some things we cannot handle all on our own. I know that’s not very American of me, but I have seen mighty men fall and fail when trying some things in their own strength.
As a matter of fact, God’s word affirms that sometimes our personal resources are not enough. Ps. 33:16-17 “No king is saved by the size of his army, no warrior escapes by his great strength.
A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save.” Without the Lord on our side, life can be insufferable, scary, and overwhelming.
We just don’t have it in ourselves to do the God sized things Jesus calls us to do or to survive and thrive in the difficulties that come with living on this round ball we call earth.
So, what are we to do when overwhelmed, beaten down, feeling like a failure? Call out to the Lord. Ps 34:17-18 says “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” V17-18)
See those words “the righteous” in v17? David distinguishes between the righteous and the wicked. In Psalm 36:1-4 David says this about the wicked: “I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:
There is no fear of God before their eyes. In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin. The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful; they fail to act wisely or do good. “
And in Ps 37:16-20 David wraps them together: “Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked; for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous.
The blameless spend their days under the Lord’s care, and their inheritance will endure forever. In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty. But the wicked will perish… they will go up in smoke.”
We just can’t do it ourselves. We just can’t always will ourselves to get better or to suddenly have income we didn’t expect, or to magically see our marriage restored. We need the Lord to get involved.
He is the one with the ability to glue back together our broken hearts, to lead us out of debt, to restore the joy that used to be in our hearts. He’s the one who can change hearts and restore relationships.
Our hope for healing and restoration is in the Lord. But, remember who the Lord blesses. He blesses the “righteous”. Have you come to peace with Jesus as your savior?
That’s what makes us “righteous”. Not what we do but what He did for us. You can keep on fighting and pulling on your own, or you can surrender and turn to the One with the true power. I guess it depends on just how stubborn you are.
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Mike Kelly is the founding pastor of Bryan’s Grace Community Church (retired) and Board Chairman of Bryan’s Sanctuary Homeless Shelter and Williams County’s Compassion (free) Medical Clinic.
