Desperation gripped me. I had no answer for the dilemma I found myself in (the details don’t really matter here). Have you ever wondered, How will I get through this? Where is God when I need Him? Why can’t I hear Him?
Have you ever cried, “God, help me!” and heard silence?
I needed wisdom, but no matter how hard I sought the Lord, no wisdom came to me on how to solve my problem. I asked for a dream. No dream. Where was God hiding out? What was I supposed to do?
In a private time with the Lord, I asked what He wanted me to read one morning.
Mark 8.
I asked the Holy Spirit to highlight what was important as I read through the chapter. What did He want to teach me?
The disciples had just seen Jesus multiply five loaves and two fish to feed 5,000, yet when it came to feeding 4,000 a short time later, they asked Jesus, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?” (Mark 8:4 NIV).
One might wonder what happened to their short-term memory.
Jesus then took the seven loaves of bread and few fish and again multiplied them to feed the thousands that had come to hear His teachings.
Afterward, as they sailed to another location, the disciples fell back to human reasoning again. Jesus challenged them. “Do you still not see or understand?” The next sentence jumped out at me. “Do you not remember?”
He then reminded them of how He multiplied the bread and fish to feed the 5,000 and the 4,000.
“Do you not remember?”
Why was that simple sentence so important? What did it have to do with my situation? I had no clue.
Day after day as I continued to seek God’s help for my dilemma, that sentence echoed in my spirit coupled with a memory of another time when I was equally as distraught. The circumstances were a bit different, but the desperation was equally monumental. Each time I prayed for a specific solution, “Do you not remember?” and that memory would come to mind.
After a few repetitions, I finally understood what the Lord was saying. He wasn’t going to give me explicit directions on how to solve my seemingly unsolvable problem. He was simply reminding me that He took care of the last urgent situation. Would I trust Him to take care of this one as well…even at the last minute? Even without telling me how or when He would resolve the issue?
I love details. Lord, give me step 1, step 2, step 3…
But sometimes the only step He gives us is a step of faith.
I wanted an action plan. He was asking for simple trust. Would I have confidence in His power, wisdom and goodness without knowing anything more than that?
Like the disciples, how quickly we can forget what the Lord has done in our past. We seek Him about some new problem, and we have already forgotten how He supplied our need previously. We forget His character and His promises as we become just as consumed with fear and anxiety as we did in the past.
Just when I felt like I was at the end of my rope, He stepped in and directed me. For me, it was a cliff hanger. For the Lord, it was just part of His nature to supply and to do so right before the deadline.
Are you struggling with anything that seems impossible right now? Paying bills? Relationship issues? Waiting for His guidance? Waiting stretches our faith and challenges our patience.
I need reminders of God’s truths and promises, especially in these tense times, wondering what the future holds. The following personalized verses help me take my eyes off the problems and focus on Him.
When you feel like you are at the end of your rope, remember that the Lord is holding the other end. We may not understand what seems to be a delay, but His timing is always perfect.
Lord, I pray that You will remind us of when You answered our prayers in the past, and that You will blanket us with Your peace and grace as we wait on Your answer to our present situation.
For we walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Cor. 5:7)
God will meet all my needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:19)
I will seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things that I need will be given to me. (Matt. 6:33)
All God’s promises are yes and amen in Christ. (2 Cor. 1:20)
God is not a man that He should lie. Has He not said it? Will He not do it? (Numbers 23:19)
No word from God is without power or impossible of fulfillment. (Luke 1:37)