“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Phil. 4:13
“I can’t do this anymore!” a friend cried out to me right around the time she burst into tears. She was not one to cry, at least in front of me. I knew how much pain she was in. She was broken. Battered down by someone else’s sin.
Within a week or so, another friend cried out to me. “I can’t do this anymore!” She didn’t burst into tears. She burst into anger. She too had been battered down by someone else’s sin. Broken.
Both were ready to quit. To give up in their situations. But this isn’t about broken people. Nor about being battered by others’ sin. Nor about giving up. It’s about something with which I’m all too familiar. That feeling, no matter the circumstances, of being so overwhelmed, so beaten down, so worn out, so wiped, so exhausted, so downtrodden, so swamped, so convinced I can’t handle one ounce more of whatever I’m facing, that I believe with all my heart the absolutely only way out is to get out. To quit. Give up. Run. Walk away. Leave. Move. Anything whatsoever to get out of the circumstances I’m in. I most assuredly have done all that through the years in response to difficult circumstances. All to no avail when they were not the will of God. Then I found the answer. The right way. The way.
The ONLY way I have ever found that works 100% of the time is this. To yield utterly to the Lord Jesus Christ. To surrender totally to God’s will. To seek His face, to dig into His Word, to trust Him, to remember Jesus Christ is THE WAY, to hide in God, to rest in Him, to press on in Him, with Him, through Him, to love and obey Him, to only walk away if it’s His will, and if it’s His will to remain, to remain with this in mind. He has a purpose in what He allows, even when He allows the seemingly hardest of circumstances. What could He possibly do in such hard places? Draw us to Himself, lead us to repentance and faith in Christ, strengthen our relationship with Himself, test our faith, perfect His love in us, make us more like Himself, work on our character, prepare His followers for eternity with Him, train us to minister to others, make us more compassionate and sensitive to others enduring trials, introduce us in these seasons to new people, to love, encourage, pray for, and minister to us, and/or to people in need of help He can give them through us, yes, even in our hard places, and on and on. If you’re in a seemingly impossible place, cry out to the Lord. Cleave to Him and His Word. Seek His will in how to proceed. If He wants you to walk away, walk away. If He wants you to remain, so surrender yourself to Him that you are entirely His for whatever His desire is for this season – and for always.