The following are thoughts during a tough season in life.
You may feel alone in your trials and tribulations. The enemy comes knocking on your door and whispering in your ear that you are guilty, guilty, guilty. He says “You deserve this trial and there is no way out.”
You perceive people, family, friends becoming distant and no comfort in sight. You see walls closing in; a vise tightening on your life; on your very soul. The enemy tells you that “you are forsaken; your life has amounted to nothing; there is absolutely no hope.”
Oh, the darkness is overwhelming. The dark clouds of the storm are hanging over your head waiting to rain down oppression upon oppression and drive you into the earth from whence you came.
You are a believer in Christ, but somehow, He seems distant in the trial.
You blame yourself, and maybe rightly so; and your shame and guilt worsen.
But then, when you have lost all hope of peace and joy, a light pierces through the darkness. You feel a hand reaching out to comfort you. You hear a distant voice; a voice of comfort.
And you realize, in an instant, that you are not alone. God has heard your heart’s cry and has responded. You begin to stand. You realize that you cannot get up on your own, but feel Him lifting you up out of the dust. The sky becomes clearer.
The prophet, Jeremiah, lamented of the destruction of his city, Jerusalem, some 2500 years ago. He lamented of his people going into bondage and his beloved Zion utterly destroyed. The sadness seemed to have no end.
From his innermost being he cried out.
Look, Lord, for I am in distress, my stomach churns, my heart is wrung within me…. I have forgotten what happiness is. My endurance has perished, so has my hope from the Lord.
And then…
“This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:21-26).
Dan Buteau has been married for the last 33 years and is a father of four adult children. He is also a grandfather to five children. He serves as a Pastor at a church in southern Maine. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Math Studies from Granite State University and he is currently a Master’s of Theology student at Liberty University. In addition, Dan served in the United States Marine Corps for four years and is retired from a 25-year career in law enforcement. He has a hunger and thirst for the Word of God and is continuing to obey the calling of his Savior, Jesus Christ, as he carries out the Great Commission.
