Turn the Page!

                                 

It seems lately that many of my dear friends are going through difficult times in their lives. I receive e-mails, prayer requests, and telephone calls about the trying situations that so many are encountering now. Even at the office, my boss will ask me for good news in view of the slowing economy. You may be in much worry over the economy, as well. I do view the cup as half full instead of half empty, because I know Who is in charge.

I have recently made hospital visits to people with hurting hearts who desire answers. I wish I had all the right words and all the right answers to their thoughts and questions. I will share an answer with you that has been placed upon my heart. If you find yourself in a difficult situation right now, I have A Good Word for you! Turn the page!

I must tell you that you are only on a new page in your life. Don’t stop reading in your book of life here! There are MANY more pages that follow. I understand that it is very difficult to see beyond the chapter that you are in, but you must convince yourself that there are new pages and chapters that follow. If I were to use my Bible to show you where your life is situated today, I would turn to the Book of Ruth chapter 1. The Bible says: “So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?" "Don't call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me."  So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning” (Ruth 1:19-22 NIV). (Do you feel as if the Lord has brought misfortune upon you?)

Perhaps I would turn to the Book of Genesis chapter 37, and say that this may be where your life seems to be today: “So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe - the richly ornamented robe he was wearing - and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it. As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?  Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed. So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt”(Genesis 37:21-28 NIV). Do you feel as if you’re in a deep well with no way out? Perhaps you found a way out of the well, but your life is headed in a direction you didn’t want or plan.

I could open up the classic story of Job, and show you the page you may be living in that story: “When Job's three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was” (Job 2:11-13 NIV). (I can see that you are suffering.)

There are many more places in the Bible where I could show you the place in the story where you may be currently situated. But I can assure you of this:  I wouldn’t leave you hanging here, on this page. Right now you may only see that you are trapped in a bad place, and there is no way out. I’m here to tell you that there is a way out! You may feel like the servant of Elisha right now found in the Book of 2 Kings. The story goes that the King of Aram was at war with Israel. The prophet Elisha would keep the King of Israel informed of every move of the army of Aram. King Aram therefore set up to kill Elisha. He sent his entire army to surround this one man of God. Early one morning the servant of Elisha awoke and went outside his tent: “When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked” (2 Kings 6:15). (Now the enemy wants you to feel completely defeated.) In one of the e-mails I received, the writer says that he just wants to give up. He writes, “I feel like I am fighting, but I want to give up in the middle of this battle.” That is exactly what Elisha’s servant felt like doing! Just raise his hands to the enemy and say, “I give up. You win.” But turn the page! The story continues; don’t ever stop in the story before it ends!  Do you know what happens next?

The prophet Elisha says something that seems very strange. "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them" (2 Kings 6:16). Let me give you the New Testament equivalent translation: “– because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Paul explains this meaning in more detail in 2 Corinthians 12:9:  “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.” In our moments of weakness and fear, we must turn it over to the Lord to handle. We can’t win on our own strength. The Lord is there to fight our battles if we just submit them to Him. What do you think would have happened if Elisha’s servant picked up a spear and ran towards the army of Aram to “fix” things on his own? What would have happened if he raised his hands and said, “I give up”? Both outcomes would have been tragic. But let me be like Elisha here to you: I pray that the Lord opens your eyes of faith! The Bible says: “And Elisha prayed, "O Lord, open his eyes so he may see" (2 Kings 6:17). You may ask, “Robby, what am I suppose to see, and what did the servant see?” I pray that the “eyes of your heart” are open that you would see that the Lord is with you to give you the strength to turn the page…and keep going. The Bible says: “Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17). The Lord had His army of angels poised and ready to defeat the army of Aram.

I encourage you to lay your trial at the feet of our Lord Jesus. The Bible says: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7 NIV). I understand that this is difficult to do. We act like we want to “cast” our anxieties on Him, but inside we still hold on to them thinking that we need to do something to “fix” them. This reminds me of my dog Gauge, a Black Labrador Retriever. By instinct he should retrieve, and he does. My son, Josh, trained to him to fetch, bring the object, and put it down at the feet of his master. (Kind of like laying your trial at the feet of our Lord.) But over time, without the act of continued discipline, Gauge now makes me wrestle it out of his mouth. He wants me to have it, but I have to wrestle to get it. Over time, you may have moved from the discipline of casting all your anxiety on Him. Don’t wrestle your trials from the Lord. Just drop them down at His feet.

In your own story, you are just on one page of many to come. In the Bible stories above, we get to read about the final outcomes. We see and learn by the examples, that by allowing our Lord to do His will in our trials, the ending is much different than what it seems at the time. At the end of the story of Ruth, Ruth gets married to a wealthy man of God and has his child. The child is named Obed, who became the grandfather of King David. Her family tree is traced down to Christ Jesus Himself. At the end of the story of Joseph, Joseph becomes second in charge in the land of Egypt. He eventually saves his brothers, who threw him into a dry well, from starvation. The tribes of Israel are saved in the end by the favor of the Lord upon Joseph. At the end of the story of Job, the Bible says: “The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers” (Job 42:12-15). (The Bible says that Job was twice as blessed at the end of the story.)

Just like the Bible stories above, your story has an ending. You’re just not there yet. Don’t stop to think the place you are in now is the end. Jesus tells us: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life… But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:25-33) Seek the Lord and His will for your life, and He will provide the things that you need. This page in your life will pass. Recognize that you are in the middle chapter, even though things seem very difficult now. Trust in the Lord to deliver you: “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles” (Psalms 34:17). Remember, when you are in a difficult moment in your life, say to the Lord, “Thank You Lord for carrying this burden for me. I recognize that this is not the end of the story. Thank You for allowing me to turn the page.”

Robby

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