A glad heart makes a cheerful face,
but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed (Proverbs 15:13).
A joyful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones
(Proverbs 17:22).
A man's spirit will endure sickness,
but a crushed spirit who can bear?
(Proverbs 18:14)
A crushed spirit. Have you ever felt that way? When nothing seems to be going your way? When attacks seem to come from all sides? When the storms come day after day after day relentlessly? Most of us have had those seasons...and if you haven't - get ready!
Bryan Golden writes in The Press:
"A forest that has been subjected to storms is much sturdier than woodlands in protected areas. The weaker trees have been removed, allowing more room for the stronger trees to thrive. A forest protected from adverse weather becomes overcrowded with thin, weak trees all competing for nutrients and sunlight. When this area is eventually exposed to a storm, virtually all of the vegetation will be leveled.
A forest constantly tested by adversity will grow and endure. The protected area, which is seldom exposed to challenging conditions, becomes weak with little longevity. Your individual character and your life have a close parallel to the strength of a tree and a forest."
As difficult as life may be during certain seasons, we must embrace the storms that God allows in our lives because they are meant for our good even when we can't understand it. They will strengthen us from the inside out.
Oh LORD, help us to rise above our current circumstances and look to You. The enemies arrows come at us day by day keeping us focused on our "old story". The old stories of defeat and hopelessness. Nights are sleepless as continue to walk down the same broken road as we replay those old stories over and over in our minds. This is exactly where the enemy wants to keep us; stealing our joy and ability to have impact on the world and the people around us. Are we hypocrites? Saying one thing and living an entirely different way. We implore our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews…'You can do anything you want. You can be anything you want. WE BELIEVE IN YOU!' And yet we continue to live our OWN lives in brokenness and defeat.
We don't have it in ourselves to stop the broken record. But You do. Help us to write a new story. Help us to find joy in humility and confession. Help us to recall your Word in Jeremiah 29 and remember, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Enable us to take the focus off ourselves and put the focus back on You. That is truly when, "...you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile."
Father, please hear my prayers. I lift up all those with crushed spirits and dry bones today. Give them eyes to see the wrong thinking and confess it to you. It's true Lord, every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but you LORD weigh the heart. Thank you for the hope that only you provide Lord Jesus. Thank you for making a way for us to live a life full of joy, hope, and victory as an example for others around us. Thank you for mornings of quietness and gratitude; redirecting our eyes toward You and Your power and off of our own weaknesses and circumstances. You are able. Finish the work you began in us for Your glory. I pray these things in the mighty and matchless name of Jesus, my Savior. Amen.
