“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)
It is indeed an ominous setting as the pandemic rages on, much like a beast that wields its brutality in a relentless manner. Lives are not seeing the light while being cocooned in a long, dark tunnel. It is all too easy to let the current situation bog the mind and let imagination run riot. This in turn can make one do the unthinkable! Which one by the way? Unthinkable by the world’s standards simply means taking the path that quite likely leads to self-destruction.
So, what is the other unthinkable or, rather, the option that has been given scant regard for perhaps a long time? It is very simply this – trusting in the Lord one hundred percent!
When you give everything to the Lord, in spite of the times, He will surely not leave you high and dry. About time to toss out whatever trace elements of skepticism in your psyche if you desire His blessings. May be a tall order for some but nudge yourself stepwise when you start to examine various nagging issues which are driving up your blood pressure. You could gradually refrain from playing the expert and begin to trust the Lord to come out with solutions. On this note, we should be spending more time in prayer versus stamping our feet whilst donning a long face.
Effective prayer can change the prevailing discoloration and, instead, add brightness to the otherwise somber backdrop. It is very much like streams popping up in the wilderness. If you take prayer and walking with the Lord on a regular basis, the beauty of His inexorable grace will push the seemingly inescapable daily nasty truths onto the back burner. It is all about focus. When He becomes the centerpiece of our lives, then all the pressures of living in these times become close to a walk in the park.
What I have shared is not a clip from an escapist novel. Facing challenges that show up can be an indescribable beauty when we put the matter in His capable hands. He will surprise you in ways beyond our human comprehension, opening up sweet little thoroughfares which our limited faculties and limitless frailties blind our access to these wonders.
We must be like a tree that is planted by the living waters. When we pull away from the humdrum routine if not regimen of what we have been used to, all angst plus frustration will be washed away. Feels like quite a lot of heat on our lives if there was a bird’s-eye view of what many are going through. The seemingly, never-ending trajectory of the pandemic can be compared to a prolonged drought. But we can be fruitful as far as our lives are concerned. All we need do is to trust our Saviour with a child-like faith.
Overcome and be joyful in the Lord.
Edwin