Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.-Jeremiah 33:3

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”-Isaiah 30:21

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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.-2 Corinthians 12:9

A Child of Grace

God:
I am really frightened
My life is dark and bare;
And when I look around for help
I can find no one who cares.

I’ve tried hard to fill my empty soul,
Even gone to dangerous lengths.
But Lord, I have to tell You,
I am running out of strength.

But, today I heard a pulpit promise
That Your Grace will make me strong.
And that this is my birthright
No matter what I’ve done wrong.

He said that Jesus made this deal for me
As He hung upon the cross.
And if I come to You through Your Son
This blessing can’t be lost.

He promised if I accept You as my Father,
You will protect me with Your strength.
And he assured me that to save me,
You will go to any lengths.

He said I can relax into Your love,
And if I’m patient with Your pace,
I’ll find that as a child of God
I am too a child of Your Grace.
©Linda Troxell 02/01/2015

Have you ever been feeling so low, even desperate, that you believed that you were all alone? Maybe it was one of those times we all go through, when everything looks so bad in our world, that we wonder if there really is a God; or at least if He is at all interested in us, personally. Then, suddenly, we hear, or see, or become aware of something that brings us back from the edge; something that sparks a memory in our mind or our brain or our soul and we begin to think that perhaps we aren’t alone, perhaps God is with us and rather than him deserting us, we have been blocking Him. I had one of those days a few weeks ago. It came at the end of a long month of trials and tribulations in every area of my life. Things were not going well at work, I was overwhelmed at home and none of my relationships seemed very satisfying to me. I can admit now, that I had not been praying nor had I asked God for help. So, of course, I felt as if God was nowhere to be found.

As I was sitting and stewing in my own sorrow, feeling sorry for myself and wondering what I was going to do, I heard the voice of a pastor I recognized on the radio. He was saying that there is nothing that is impossible with the grace of God, but that if we want His help, we have to ask for it. That sentence allowed me to come up out of my funk just enough to realize that it had been a very long time since I had asked God for help with my situation. It was really lucky that I just happened to be listening to that radio station and that I recognized the pastor’s voice and he was saying just what I needed to hear; don’t you agree?

Well, I hope you are saying “No, don’t be silly, luck had nothing to do with it.” Because, I hope you know, as I know, that it was not luck, that I heard that pastor and that it wasn’t even the pastor speaking to me; it was God, in all of His grace, giving me one more prompt to call on him. I say one more prompt because I am sure that God had been prompting me to turn to Him from the very beginning of my troubles. The Bible tells us that God wants us to ask for his help. Jeremiah 33:3 says: “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” However, for me, it took being all out of options, emotionally exhausted and spiritually bankrupt to be able to hear the loving voice of God calling to me.

Now, as I write this, I cannot figure out why it took all of that for me to ask God for help, but before I heard the pastor, it didn’t occur to me that I hadn’t asked. I think this is a part of human nature. I think that we humans are prone to forgetting to ask for help. Not just spiritual help but earthly help as well. We keep reverting to our default position of perceived independence, somehow believing that it is strong, and enviable to grit our teeth and go it alone. But, that kind of independence, is not strong, it’s sad and it’s lonely. When we are feeling vulnerable, in need, and out of options, it takes strength to reach out for help. It does not require strength to do nothing,

One of the greatest miracles of God is His grace; His unearned, unmerited favor manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings on His people, grace. Paul tells us, God 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.-2 Corinthians 12:9 God promises that His love, His help, and His protection are free, unlimited and unconditional. He promises that He is near to the weak and the hurting and He will sustain us in our pain.

But God cannot bestow grace upon us, He cannot love us or protect us or sustain us if we don’t acknowledge Him. If we don’t talk to Him, if we don’t ask for His help God cannot intervene. He cannot give us what we do not ask for. Oh, He will keep trying to get our attention. But once we’re in that place, where we are angry at God, thinking that He has abandoned us, forgetting that we have not asked for his help, once we are in that dark place where the devil has jumped on the bandwagon and is reinforcing every dark thought we have, it’s very difficult for God to get through our negative shield.

Being in a place where we believe we can’t turn to God for help is frightening. But our God is so faithful that He will not forsake us no matter how long we ignore Him. He will not let us stay in that lonely place without trying to rescue us. However, there is only so much He can do because His decision to give us free will is irrevocable. He cannot force His help on us. Man is free to make choices, including the choice to refuse the grace of God. But even though God will not force us to take His help, He will continue to prompt us to reach out to Him as He did for me when He arranged for me to hear the pastor on the radio. God can and will use anyone and anything to speak to us. Those who whine that they wish God would speak to them, are not listening.

Very seldom is God’s communication with man a booming voice, a visiting angel or a burning bush. Even in the Bible, those big dramatic messages are few and far between. No, usually God’s communication with us comes in a very normal, very common way. It is a thought He puts in our head that we can’t shake; it is something a stranger or a friend says to us at just the right time; it is a painting, a child’s drawing or a scripture we have read a dozen times but this time has a whole new meaning for us. It is that still small voice we hear deep inside. The Bible tells us, ‘whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’–Isaiah 30:21

But, God’s communication with us almost always begins with a prayer asking for His help. Because, if we aren’t looking for God’s help, we aren’t likely to recognize His communication, and His message will slip right past us. So, the next time you realize you are feeling alone, the next time you find yourself feeling stuck and as if God has forgotten you, pray. It need only be a simple short prayer, “God please help me.” will do it. And then keep your eyes and ears tuned for God’s answer. It could come from anywhere, but it probably won’t be a burning bush or an angel come to earth.

I hope you won’t wait to get to a place of darkness and abandonment before you pray. I have found that when I make it a practice to start every morning with a prayer turning my day over to God and asking Him to help me with all of the challenges of that day, I seldom find myself in the position I was in a few weeks ago. It is when I forget and I allow my routine to slip that I find myself vulnerable to feeling deserted by God.

The funny thing about routine is that it doesn’t take nearly as long to lose it as it does to create it. Just one week of not inviting God into our lives every morning, and every morning turning our lives and our will over to Him, and it could take months before we are able to reestablish that routine. But if we maintain that routine, if every morning we tell God we cannot do it without Him and ask Him to take the wheel, He will already be with us when the “troubles” hit. He will be in on finding the solution right from the start. He won’t be left to spend energy that could be spent solving our problem, on getting our attention while we stew in our own self-pity and imaginary abandonment.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, I am going to start practicing what I am preaching, today.

Points for Prayer and Pondering

1. When was the last time you felt alone and defeated and as if God had forgotten you? Write a paragraph about the situation and how it was resolved.
2. How does God most often communicate with you? Do you have a difficult time identifying God’s communications to you?
3. What do you think about asking God into your life daily and daily, turning your life and will over to Him? Is this something you would like to try? Why, or why not?