Hearts of Faith sometimes Faint.

There is no greater truth than God loved us so much that He suffered a brutal, painful and humiliating death, that we, who were not even mindful of Him could share in His glorious resurrection!

When we are wounded, we shed our tears, He not only shed tears but had his skin torn, bowels exposed, and shed His blood unto death! That mangled flesh on the cross is the eternal symbol to remind us that there isn't a chasm wide enough to keep His hand from reaching us! But it does not end there, His resurrection is His victory and His symbol to us that as He overcame, in Him, we too are over comers!

Although I hate to admit it, the truth is that when my life seems to take a turn for the worse, I find that although I still believe He loves me, I am not always comforted by that knowledge! Why is that? Am I the only one? Am I not a man of faith at those moments?

Lamentations 3:1-18
1 I am the man who has seen affliction
Because of the rod of His wrath.
2 He has driven me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
3 Surely against me He has turned His hand
Repeatedly all the day.
4 He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away,
He has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.
6 In dark places He has made me dwell,
Like those who have long been dead.
7 He has walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my 1bchain heavy.
8 Even when I cry out and call for help,
He shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
10 He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places.
11 He has turned aside my ways and atorn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate.
12 He bent His bow
And set me as a target for the arrow.
13 He made the 1arrows of His aquiver
To enter into my 2inward parts.
14 I have become a laughingstock to all my people,
Their mocking song all the day.
15 He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drunk with wormwood.
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;
He has made me cower in the dust.
17 My soul has been rejected from peace;
I have forgotten 1happiness.
18 So I say, "My strength has perished,
And so has my hope from the LORD."

This portion of scripture paints a picture of a soul in utter despair, that feels as though his despair comes from the hand of God! This is one of many perfect examples of a fainting heart in scripture.

There are times when life deals us such hard blows that it seems as though we cry out for God's hand to deliver us, all we can see is a cloudy view of His back. Has He turned away from us in our greatest need? Are the cries of my suffering too faint for Him to hear? Am I destined to live with a heart that is crushed, and though I seek His peace, am I left only to drown in the anguish that devastates my life?

How can I balance what I know to be true of Him "He will never leave nor forsake me" with how I feel about Him during the trials I suffer through?

WHY LORD? That's the question I cry out in the darkness that seems to over take me and echoes throughout my entire being yet left unanswered. How long will you leave me in this despair? Where is your promise of peace?

Lamentations 3:19-26 (Here we see Faith lifting the fainting heart)
19 Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.
20 Surely my soul remembers
And is bowed down within me.
21 This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
22 The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
"Therefore I have hope in Him."
25 The LORD is good to those who await for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
26 It is good that he awaits silently
For the salvation of the LORD.



How do we balance between these two extremes?

Hebrew 4:15-16 For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathies with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

He knows what it is like to be humiliated, to be wrongly accused, to lose those he loves; "in every respect" He knows how we feel! And what is His call to us in these times?
Draw near to the throne, receive mercy and grace in time of need. RUN TO HIM!

As a runner in a marathon sometimes loses strength in his legs (rubber legs) he sometimes will fall to his knees, but continues to crawl to the finish line, we often experience this when trials occur.

All of us have felt at one time or another that we have been abandon by God, so how can we run to someone who we think has left us to shrivel up and die?!

Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding. ACKNOWLEDGE Him in ALL your ways and He will direct your path.

"Trust and Acknowledge Him"

Even if the "way" that your in at the time is fear, doubt, anger, depression, bitterness, etc. don't let it rage within you, don't try to ignore it, cry it out to The Lord.

The one that died and rose again to save you is near to you. The voice of your flesh and the enemy will scream at you that He has abandoned you, but The Lord will whisper to your soul "Here I Am!" It is acknowledging this truth that carries us through the trial when the feeling of this truth escapes us.

It's hard; this is where Faith shows its might. God is not UP somewhere looking down, He is IN us, with us, and the fullness of all that He is resides within us. Nothing is harder to plug into when we are in our deepest despair than this truth.

Nothing would please the enemy more than to have us so blinded by our trials that we begin to believe His greatest deceit?God is a Liar!

All the things we comfort others with in their time of darkness seem to almost fade into oblivion when we are in our darkest moments. It's tough to hang on, but we have to stand together. We must lock our hearts and our minds together, standing not only in His love for us, but just as importantly, our love for each other.

We are living in a time where Christians everywhere are under extreme attack. Marriages, families, friendships, are being torn at from all sides and sometimes we make the mistake of trying to survive the assault rather than running to The Lord, standing under the shadow of His MIGHT and fighting this onslaught together, in prayer, praise, holding onto his promises, and sounding the trumpet of our FAITH in His word to see the mightiest of walls fall down by HIS hand.

We must not hold back, we must come together as one body, banded together, seek the Lord, and bear one another up. When we see someone who is too weak to stand, we must stand for them.

These are the most important times for us, it is not a time for the faint of heart to hide, but a time for us to stand up and acknowledge that we desperately need His truth and loving touch to be ever present in our lives.

David, Jeremiah, Daniel, Paul and many others, at one time or another became faint of heart, but remained people of faith! When Jesus was praying in the garden before He was handed over to experience what would be the most painful, humiliating and darkest moment of His life on earth, He acknowledged who His Father was, who He was, and although His heart grew faint, Jesus remained faithful!

The only way to be anxious for nothing is to bring that anxiousness to the Lord in prayer and supplication so that the peace that passes all understanding, HIS PEACE, will guard our hearts and minds, in this, our most troubling time!

Always remember that when darkness surrounds you the light of His Glory is within you, when unfaithfulness causes you to stumble, His faithfulness will lift you up, and His Love will heal your wounds