(Reposted from something else I wrote, but it describes a big way Satan might try to attack or tempt us. This is long, but oh well.)
We're all going to go through "desert" times at some points in our lives - long, discouraging, spiritually-dry times when we see nothing happening and feel like God is far away, when our prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling and fall back down to us, unheard, unanswered. And during these times, I think Satan would love nothing more than to get us to do two things: grumble and forget.
When we read about the Israelites wandering the desert after Moses rescued them from Egypt, it seems that the two things they got in trouble for the most were grumbling about their circumstances (about God's care) and forgetting what God has done for them, what He's capable of doing for them, how He is big enough and faithful enough to handle their newest concerns.
The Israelites had been through a time unlike any other in the history of mankind. They saw the plagues, the miracles, the pillar of fire, etc. And yet what is one of the first things they do after leaving Egypt, when things get rough, when they see Pharaoh’s army approaching?
They freak out. They lose heart and lose courage and begin to despair, forgetting who God is.
Instead of stopping to remember Who was on their side, Who protected them from the plagues (frogs and boils and gnats, Oh my!) ... instead of humbly seeking His help, laying their newest concern and fear at His feet, trusting Him to handle it ... instead of doing what God's people should do when they believe in a big, good, loving, powerful, faithful God, they just lost it!
Exodus 14:11: “They said to Moses, ‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert?’“
This goes beyond being afraid of the circumstances. Beyond "Oh God, I'm scared. Help me!" (Which would be perfectly acceptable, calling on God in our time of need.) This goes into maligning God's character, grumbling against His care and faithfulness, essentially saying, “What kind of a God are You that You would lead us into danger and death!?! I’d rather be under Pharaoh’s thumb than under Your care!” And this was just shortly after celebrating their release from Egypt. How soon we forget.
However, as we now know, thanks to having the Bible, God was using what looked like an impossible situation to work a more miraculous escape - not only for the good of His name but also for the good of the people. He was carrying out a great plan, even when it looked like He was nowhere to be found. The Israelites were never in harm's way, even if it appeared that way to them. God had never abandoned them to disaster, even if it felt like it.
And so the Red Sea was parted, and the Israelites walked through on dry ground, and Pharaoh’s army was completely destroyed. And this filled them with so much awe and thankfulness that they sang songs of praise celebrating their supernatural deliverance. It so filled them with such a tangible sense of God’s strength and care and goodness that ... several days later ... they freaked out again!
Exodus 15:22-24: “Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water because it was bitter... So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, ‘What are we to drink?”
Three days after not finding water, they completely forget God’s strength and care and faithfulness. Three days! After the Red Sea, after the pillar of fire, after the plagues! “How small and unloving you must be, God, to bring us into a place with no water! You must want us to die!”
And let's not forget about all the other times they grumbled against God and forgot His goodness to them, His care, His power, such as (not in order) in Exodus 16 and Numbers 11 when they complained about not having meat, and in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20 when they again complained about no water, and in Numbers 14 when they complained about the giants in Canaan, and in Numbers 16 when they complained against Moses' leadership, and in Numbers 21 when they complained against God and Moses, wishing they had stayed in Egypt, and in Exodus 32 when they complained that Moses was taking too long in meeting with God on the mountain (to get the Commandments), and so they demanded another god, and so Aaron makes them a golden calf to worship. And guess what? Moses was only gone for 40 days and nights (Exodus 24:18)! After all they had been through and all the miracles they had seen, they couldn't even make it that long before rebelling against God, forgetting His care and power, giving up hope in Him, and demanding another god.
All throughout Exodus, the Israelites swing between praising God then doubting God. Thanking God then complaining against God. Seeing the mighty things He's done then forgetting what He's capable of. All because their eyes are on their circumstances, on what He's doing for them in the moment. And so when they don't see Him doing things for them right now, when they find themselves in a new tight spot, they get discouraged and fall into despair and sin, grumbling against Him or taking matters into their own hands because He's taking too long or not meeting their expectations.
And as a consequence of their complaining and forgetting, terrible things happened. Deaths, plagues, poisonous serpents, quail overrunning them until it came out their ears, and then more death.
God doesn’t take it lightly when we complain about our circumstances, when we forget His goodness to us, His faithfulness, His power. In fact, in Numbers 14:11, God reveals what grumbling and lack of faith in Him really is: “The Lord said to Moses, ‘How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?”
Contempt! Complaining about, grumbling about, our circumstances is not just "being concerned" or "just being honest"; it is contempt for God. Freaking out about what's going on - forgetting who He is, what He's capable of, how much He's done for us, how much He loves us, how He's big enough to handle our newest concerns - is contempt for God. It's doubting what kind of a God He is, passing judgment on Him based on our circumstances despite all He's done for us, judging Him to be inadequate, uncaring, unloving, untrustworthy, incapable, weak, etc. (Ouch!)
You know, I used to look down on the Israelites. I used to think, You foolish people! How could you be so forgetful and blind? Tsk-tsk! If I were in your shoes, I would never ... But when I look back on the "desert times" I've been in, I see so much of myself in them. And it’s humbling.
I’m stunned sometimes at how quickly I forget who God really is and what He's done for me, at how often I forget to humbly pray about something before stressing out about it, at how much I focus on my bad circumstances instead of on God's goodness, power, love, faithfulness, and His ability to work bad things into something good.
If He's proven Himself so faithful in the past, why do we have such a hard time trusting Him to handle our present and our future? Why? Why do we grumble and forget?
Because we're judging God based on what our circumstances are, instead of judging our circumstances based on who God is. We view God through our trials, instead of viewing our trials through our faith in God. We're so very human.
I wonder what would have happened if instead of grumbling every time they faced a new trial, the Israelites prayed instead, telling God honestly what they were going through, how they were feeling, and what they needed? I wonder what would happen if I did? I wonder what would have happened if every time they wanted to doubt Him, they remembered His care in the past and thanked Him for all the good things He's already done for them, all the ways He's already shown how faithful He is? I wonder what would happen if I did?
How different their time in the desert would have been if they had simply remembered how big and loving God is and simply hit their knees and prayed, pouring out their hearts and needs to Him, humbly asking Him for water, for food, for courage to take the Promised Land, etc., trusting Him to answer.
How different it would have been!
And how different my hard times could be.
Grumbling and forgetting... such easy traps to fall into in the desert.
Manna: Despite their constant lapses into grumbling and forgetting and despite the fact that they had to spend years in the desert, God still took care of them in amazing ways - one of which was manna, the mysterious, never-before-seen, heavenly food.
But did you know that while manna was definitely a miraculous blessing from God to help keep them alive, it was also a test?
Deuteronomy 8:16: “He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.” And verse 2 explains why He tested them: “... in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.”
Of course, part of the test was to see if they would follow God's instruction to only gather enough manna for each day, trusting that He would provide new manna for tomorrow. (And some of them failed that test.) But that was a short-term test.
But I think a long-term test was to see how they would handle being given manna - heavenly Corn Flakes - day after day, month after month, year after year. Every day, Corn Flakes. Every month, Corn Flakes. Year after year, Corn Flakes. Would they still be thankful and faithful when the blessings were bland?
I think God will allow us all, at some point(s) in our lives, to wander a "desert" where all we get is manna. Each and every day, manna. Nothing more exciting or flavorful than manna. In order to test what's in our hearts. To see how we will respond. To root out sin. To expose the ingratitude and pride in our hearts. To reveal the improper expectations we have of God and of faith, the assumptions or misperceptions that we don't even realize we have but that hurt our relationship with Him (or with others or ourselves). To purify our faith, grow our thankfulness, build our trust, help us grow in maturity, or prepare us for what's ahead. (Even Jesus was led - deliberately - into a "desert" by the Holy Spirit to face the temptations of Satan to prepare Him to start His ministry.)
I think God intended manna to be a blessing... and a disappointment... to see how they would respond when everything was boring and the blessings were bland. Would they continue to praise God and be thankful and trust Him even in the boring, monotonous days when things weren't exciting and they weren't getting exactly what they wanted? Would they be content with what God provided, with where He had them, with His timing, and with what He was doing in their lives when He didn't seem to be doing much at all but meeting their basic needs?
Would we?
When nothing exciting is going on in our lives for years - no great accomplishments, no dreams being fulfilled, no prayers answered the way we want, no apparent progress in our goals or success in our pursuits, no hope of things changing or getting better, nothing more exciting to look forward to every day than just going to our job, coming home, eating dinner, interacting with family and friends, going to bed, waking up, going to our job, coming home, eating dinner, etc. - would we still praise God, trust God, honor God, be thankful, be faithful, reflect Christ to others, and obediently do all the small, daily, "unflashy," monotonous things He asks us to do each day, to the best of our ability and for His glory, even when we want so much more than what we've got?
Or would we grumble and forget? (I know which one I do, far too often, much to my dismay.)
I think all of us Christians will end up eating manna at some point in our lives. But it’s not that God doesn’t care or isn't listening or is being stingy. It’s that He’s testing us to see if we're really committed to Him, if we really trust Him, if we'll continue to obey Him and cling to Him even when we don't understand or like it, if our faith is really in Him (or is it in ourselves or something else), etc.
Do we really want Him... or do we just want Him to give us what we want?
Do we have a biblical view of Him, or do we worship a God of our own making, our own assumptions and desires and expectations?
The hard times force us to examine our hearts, our obedience, our priorities, our thoughts and feelings, our expectations and views of Him, why we believe in Him, why we trust Him, etc.
And it may just be that He doesn't yet have another job for us or that the next blessing isn't ready yet or that He's preparing us for the next phase of life - and so He just wants us to keep doing what we're doing until He opens the next door or reveals the next step.
[And of course, I'm assuming that during these times, we're not entrenched in sin or haven't previously walked away from God in disobedience at some point. Sometimes, these long "deserts" happen because we're in sin or being resistant to God. And so He won't deal with us further or bless us more until we come clean and make things right. Sometimes, we bring our own "deserts" on ourselves. And we need to search our hearts and go to Him in humble prayer, confessing what needs to be confessed and asking what we need to do to make things right. And then we need to do it. Because until then, we'll be living apart from God and His protection and guidance, and it might lead to all sorts of bad consequences that God never wanted for us. This is why we need to keep short accounts with God, to always be sensitive and obedient to the conviction of the Holy Spirit (because we can grieve Him with our sin, quench Him with our resistance, and numb our consciences through constant disobedience), and to regularly be searching our hearts and confessing sin and making things right.]
And if we resist the urge to grumble and forget... if we bring our whole selves to Him honestly, humbly... if we let Him uncover the fears, doubts, sins, and idols in our hearts so that He can address them, heal them, correct them... then the hard times won't be a waste. They will become stepping-stones to a deeper, more pure faith. To spiritual maturity. To greater trust in our big, strong, loving, faithful Father. And someday you will call these hard times "blessings." Maybe bittersweet blessings. But blessings nonetheless.
Hang in there, God's not done with us yet!
2 Peter 3:9: "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness..."
And remember that what we go through in life is not really ultimately about this life anyway. It's about preparing us for the next one, the eternal one. Heaven. So even if we can't see the rewards or benefits of the trials here, we will there. And we'll say "Ah, now I understand! You are a good, wise God." Hang in there. This is all adding up to something good. Eternally good.
Romans 5:3-5: “… we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.”
Romans 8:26,28,31: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express… And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose... If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Spiritual Warfare: If Satan can get us to focus on our circumstances, on all the things we want but don't have, on all the ways God appears to be letting us down... if he can get us to feel like God isn't listening, doesn't care, and can't be trusted and so we've got to take matters into our own hands... then he can get us to take steps away from God, opening the door to sin, to demonic influence and interference.
Every step away from God is a step into enemy territory.
And so when you find yourself facing a new concern, a new fear, a new "desert time" when God feels far away or life is bland or things aren't working out as you wanted, you must take preventative measures so that Satan doesn't gain a foothold in your heart. Disarm him right away by not complaining about your fears or circumstances but by bringing them right to God, asking for His help, wisdom, peace, comfort, strength, and guidance about what He wants you to do next, what lesson He wants you to learn, what He wants you to do for Him (instead of always asking what He can do for you), how He wants you to view your situation, which parts He wants you to handle and which He wants you to let Him handle, etc.
Pour out your heart honestly to God in prayer, even all your pains and fears and heartaches. Complaining to other people is contempt for God, but "complaining" to God is prayer. (And even when it feels like our prayers are bouncing off the ceiling, remember that He's listening and working behind the scenes. Do you trust Him? Do you know Him well enough to trust Him? If not, maybe that's why He's taking so long in answering your prayers, maybe that's why He's staying hidden for now, to force you to search for Him more diligently, to learn more about who He really is in His Word and how much He really loves you and how much He's got your back.)
Seek Him in His Word. When we can't seem to find Him anywhere else, we can always find Him in His Word and in prayer. Surround yourself with Scripture. Speak it out loud. This will help repel evil and set your mind of the things of God, on His truth. Memorize and recite verses that comfort you, that speak to your doubts, fears, and circumstances. Surround yourself with worship music. (When you don't know what to pray yourself, it helps to let the words and songs of others be your prayer for now.)
Praise Him - out loud or writing it all down - for all the things you can think of, all the ways He's been good to you in the past, all of His great qualities, all the simple blessings you overlook daily, all the bad things that haven't happened to you, all the good things that came from bad things that have happened to you, and for all the blessings you take for granted, the things you'd be heartbroken to lose but wouldn't know it until you lose it. (One severe accident or illness or natural disaster could wipe out so much that we don't even realize we have and are thankful for. Don't wait until these blessings are gone to appreciate them and thank God for them.)
And at the end of it all, let Him know that even if you don't get what you want or things don't go the way you hoped, you'll still trust Him and praise Him. Say it out loud, not just for His sake but for yours, so that you can hear yourself saying it. When you feel yourself spiraling into despair and distrust, say out loud "I will trust You." When you hear yourself griping about all that's wrong and all that He's not doing for you, say out loud, "I love You." When you are heartbroken about the way things are going, say out loud, "I praise You."
At the end of it all, no matter how you feel, open your mouth and say "God, no matter what, I love You and praise You. I know You are a good God who loves me and will work things out for my good as long as I am following You. And so even if I don't understand why things are going the way they are or how it will work out, I trust You."
As I've gone through my own really hard times, I've come to realize that these verses, among others, are some of my favorite prayers: "Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief... Not my will, but Yours be done... Whether You give or take away, blessed be Your name... Lord, to whom shall I go anyway? You alone have the words of eternal life... I will be still and know that You are God."
We don't have to feel like praising God, trusting God, obeying God, or being thankful in order to do it. These things are choices, acts of our wills, and we can do them even when we don't feel it. Sometimes, these things are sacrifices we make to God, things we do for Him even when we don't want to.
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess his name” (Hebrews 13:15).
In fact, when we least feel like praising, trusting, obeying, and thanking Him is when we need to the most, out loud, for our own spiritual protection and the health of our faith. It's part of spiritual warfare. Praising God (thanking Him out loud for who He is and what He's done; singing worship songs; saying out loud that you trust Him) is a weapon against evil, repelling demons, drawing us closer to God and under His protection. Demons don't like to hang out in the presence of people worshiping God, singing God's praises.
"Whenever the [evil spirit] came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him." (1 Samuel 16:23)
"As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against [their enemies]..." (2 Chronicles 20:22. As the people praised, God solved their problems. How many times do we exhaust ourselves trying to fix our problems when we really should be focusing on praising God while He handles it for us?)
There is power in praise, spiritual power to defeat the enemy.
No wonder Satan tries to get us to grumble and forget. Because then we won't pick up the weapons of prayer and God's Word and praise and gratitude.
Praising God is not just for His good, but also for ours, for our spiritual protection and the health of our hearts, minds, faith, and our relationship with Him.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)
“Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things…" (Col. 3:2)
“whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.” (Phil. 4:8)
(A great song for encouragement: Praise the Lord by The City Harmonic)
Final Word of Encouragement:
No matter what we're going through in life - good easy times, difficult painful times, innocent naive times, dry boring times - we are always vulnerable to Satan's attacks, to temptation. He's got a scheme for every time. Be alert. Be aware. Remain close to the Lord and listen to anything He brings up that you need to deal with, be cautious about, get rid of, start doing, stop doing, confess, correct, etc.
The closer you're walking with God (in His Word and in prayer and in daily obedience), the more protected you'll be and the less "legal right" Satan will have to harass you or attack you. James 4:7-8: "Submit yourself, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you."
If you feel Satan is attacking you, ask God (and search His Word) for what He wants you to do about it and learn through it. It may be that there's a lesson God is trying to teach you. Maybe you weren't listening when things were going well, and so God had to turn up the volume. Maybe you've been in sin and need to confess something. Maybe He's trying to train you to fight the right way, His way. Maybe there's something He wants you to know or do or pay closer attention to.
Or maybe He just wants you to learn to lean on Him more fully. Maybe He wants you to learn to praise Him even when you're hurting, to follow Him even when you don't want to, to say "I trust You, God" even when you don't feel it inside, and to adjust your expectations of Him so that they are more in line with the Bible, with who He really is.
You don't get to decide whether or not you'll encounter painful trials, but you do get to decide how you go through them and how you grow through them. You get to decide whether or not they bring you closer to God or farther away. [A really good sermon I just watched (watch the whole thing, it gets good): More of God's Presence]
And if and when we fail, remember that God can cover that too. In fact, He knew ahead of time what we would do, and so He already knows how to work it into good, into new plans for us. So humble yourself before God, ask for forgiveness, accept His forgiveness, pick yourself up and keep following hard after God. And He will keep leading you in the best path possible, even making good things out of your mistakes, though you might still have to face some discipline from God and the painful consequences that come with your mistakes. But even in the pain and disappointment, He is there.
Proverbs 3:11-12: "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke; because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in."
Hebrews 12:11: "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."
1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Acts 3:19: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
Of course, don't use God's forgiveness and His ability to bring good out of bad as an excuse to sin, which shows unrepentance (Romans 6:1-2), but let it be a comfort for when you do sin and are repentant. We serve a merciful God who can make all things new, who can turn bad into good, who can make masterpieces out of messes. Humble repentance gets us forgiveness, mercy, grace, and God working in our lives again to bring things to good. But unrepentant sin will grieve the Spirit (Eph. 4:30) and quench the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19), making us grow numb to His conviction and leading and Truth and comfort, etc. And if we continue in our unrepentance, we might be handed over to our sin and to Satan (1 Cor. 5:5), to our hard-heartedness (Psalm 81:11-12), as God's severest form of discipline: letting us have our sinful ways and their natural, destructive consequences, until we come to our senses and return to Him.
James 4:10: "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."
Psalm 32:5: “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’ – and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”
Psalm 40:1-2: “I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand."
Psalm 51:10: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
And take heart! Yes, Satan's allowed to roam and cause a lot of trouble now, but it won't last forever. God will eventually remove Satan and all evil and pain from the earth and set everything right again. And we will see the good that God created from our pain, the spiritual effects and rewards of how we handled the troubles in this life. Eternity is far longer than any pain we feel now. The eternal benefits and rewards will be worth it. But we have to be deliberate about bringing our pain to God instead of just growing bitter about it, about letting Him help us through it even when we hurt and don't understand, and about trusting Him to turn it into something good even if we can't see it right now, trusting Him no matter what.
John 16:33: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
2 Cor. 4:8-9,16-18: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed… Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
1 Peter 5:7-10: “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
Romans 8:38-39: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Jude 1:24-25: "Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy - to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen."
Rev. 21:1-4: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. Also I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, mourning, crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Rev. 22:7,20-21: “Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book… He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen”
I don't know about you, but I really need verses like these!
Also take heart in remembering that God has not only set boundaries on how long Satan can remain on this earth, but also on how far Satan can go while he's here. God has ultimate authority over what Satan is allowed to do or not do. And God will only allow what He can use for good. So don't despair. If God allows an attack from Satan, there's a reason, and He will turn it into something good if we let Him. Romans 8:28: "And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him..."
And remember that we don't fight alone. We Christians have the Holy Spirit - God Himself - in us, to help us fight. 1 John 4:4, “… the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." 1 John 2:14: "... the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one."
The Creator is far stronger than His creation. God is far stronger than Satan (though Satan tries to get us to forget this). With God on our side, backing us up, fighting for us, we can win the battles. Romans 8:31: "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (And even if we lose some battles, we're on the side that's already won the war!)
So don't feel like you're fighting on your own. Run to God for help during these times, especially when you feel weak and scared and vulnerable. Throw yourself into His arms, into His Word, embrace and speak out His Truth. Let it be a life-vest for you to help hold your head above water when you feel like you're going under. Let the pain and fear and confusion push you to Him, not further away.
The closer you draw to Him and the more you rely on Him in the bad times, the more He will fight with you and for you.
Deuteronomy 20:4: “For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”
Deuteronomy 31:8: “The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Joshua 1:9: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Psalm 46:1-3,10: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though the waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging… Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
(Do you get the sense that I think Scripture is not only a huge comfort and help, but also a huge weapon in the spiritual battle?)
