You are driving along and you make a wrong turn. The sign in front of you says, “Dead end.” Uggh. A bit of hopelessness ensues. You back up, turn around and head down another street. Once again, “Dead end.” More hopelessness. Discouragement and frustration begins to set in. A bit of pressure and panic bubbles through your veins as the diminishing thought of reaching your destination absorbs your mind.
Have you ever encountered this spiritually? You begin a Bible study. No one shows. You organize an event at church. Abysmal response. You fervently pray for a change in your current situation. Nothing seems to happen. Next, discouragement comes and reaching a point where we think, “what’s the use?” Have you ever been there personally, professionally, or spiritually? I sure have and it is not a fun place to be.
Let me present a counter cultural thought in regard to thinking about road blocks and seemingly apparent dead ends.
I think God is in the business of glorifying Himself through roadblocks and dead ends. Think about Moses for a moment. Through a myriad of circumstances the Lord took Moses to a dead end. He had led the Israelites out of Egypt and was being pursued by Pharoah’s army. Next, he comes to the Red Sea. It was as if God wanted to take Moses to a dead end to show him that He is greater than any circumstances. I believe God purposely led them to that place so that He could reveal His potency, strength, unlimited power in the midst of this hopeless scenario.
How about the Psalmist writing that the people “were at their wits’ end” (Ps 107:27)? Have you ever been there? Nothing is going right. You feel as if your prayers are not being heard. There is no hidden sin in your life. You are doing your best at work, in school, and at home; however, everything is just tough and not making much sense. You continually pray for guidance and direction from the Lord but seem to get nothing. Perhaps, God in His silence is actually speaking the loudest?
Allow me to explain.
In my opinion, two of the toughest things about the Christian faith are prayer and patience. During times of great tribulation, it is difficult to even muster up a prayer. Our strength is gone. As the Psalmist mentions, we are at our wit’s end and in need of hope. This is where the Scripture must become an “anchor of the soul” (Heb 5:19) because it is here that the spiritual becomes emboldened over the physical.
L.B. Cowman writes, “Waiting on God and abiding in His will is to know Him in ‘the fellowship of sharing in his suffering’ (Phil 3:10) and ‘to be conformed to the likeness of his Son’ (Rom 8:29). Therefore if God’s desire is to enlarge your capacity for spiritual understanding, do not be frightened by the greater ream of suffering that awaits you.”
The Apostle Paul writes that he was “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Cor 6:10). Jesus is described as a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Is 53:3). You are not alone when you are feeling sorrows or sorrowful. God understands. Furthermore, God is using your sorrow and suffering. He is never in a hurry. Like a master goldsmith he is using the intense heat to see His glowing metal reflect His image, His heart, and His essence through the refining fire of suffering. “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of the silver” (Mal 3:3).
During times of trial we begin to realize our helplessness in our flesh. Tell a person diagnosed with cancer to make themselves well. Mention to a person going through a financial ordeal to just make more money. How about telling a person that is having a desert spiritual experience and feels abandoned by God to just have more faith. This is crazy talk; yet, this is how may people in the church are counseling others who are in the midst of some great trials and suffering.
The Bible says to “weep with those who weep” (Rom 12:15) and to help beyond just words. “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18). Yes, we are to comfort one another with the Scriptures and Romans 15:4 says, “for whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” However, there are a lot of people who are simply using words as a lazy man’s attempt toward ministry. Proverbs 29:5 says, “If a man loudly blesses his neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse.” Do not just go over to someone’s home that is in deep sorrow and say, “Don’t worry, it will get better. Everything is OK. Look how much God is blessing me.” Friend, you “do not know whether it will be love or hatred that awaits you” (Eccl (9:1).
“In the days of adversity consider—God has made the one as well as the other so that man will not discover anything that will be after him” (Eccl 7:14). There is a time and season for every activity under heaven and you may be in a season of financial blessing, physical health, and prosperity on many levels; however, rest assured, this can change quickly and please look for ways to share when you are abounding “for by your standard of measure it will be measure to you in return” (Luke 6:38). We are to actively seek to establish God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven (Matt 6:10). But how you may ask?
One way I know of is through mercy. The Lord desires mercy and compassion. Matthew 5:7 says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” Micah 6:8 says that we are to “love mercy”. When Jesus rebukes the Pharisees, He says, “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion’” (Matt 9:13). Do we know what it means to be merciful? Do we know how to apply mercy?
James 2:13 says, “For judgment will be merciless to the one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.” Luke 6:36 says, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
Let me share with you three ways to extend mercy to someone going through a tough time:
- Do something. 1 John 3:8 tells us to put action and deeds together. You can do something by simply remaining silent and sitting with the person. James 1:19 tells us to be slow to speak and quick to listen. Ask them how you can help and then do whatever they ask (James 1:22).
- Give something. Acts 20:35 says it is “more blessed to give than it is to receive.” Think about what would comfort you the most during a tough time: some ice cream, Scripture cards, a comic book, . . .The gift does not have to be ultra spiritual. One of the kindest gifts I received recently was a plane ticket to spend time with some friends I love and cherish.
- Touch someone. Jesus touched people. He touched them with words and with his presence. Many times “all who touched him were healed” (Mark 3:10) and people in the Bible brought others to Jesus and “begged Jesus to touch” them (Mark 8:22). Others were bringing children to Jesus “to have him touch them” (Mark 10:13). Even when the resurrected Lord appears to His disciples and a few others, He says, “Touch me” (Luke 24:39). There can be something very powerful by giving someone a warm hug or caressing their head while they cry tears upon tears in the arms of a merciful person.
Dead ends. We serve a God who is masterful at orchestrating marvelous stories through times of despair, hopelessness, and weakness in our lives. It is here that the depth of our spiritual strength is stored in our inner being brought about by the very pain, many times, we cannot understand.
There is a reason behind our every pain and sorrow. Today we may be unable to see the final outcome of the beautiful plan that God has hidden “in the shadow of His hand” (Is 49:2); however, it is here that we learn to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7).
Pray for mercy. Pray to become a merciful person. Pray that we learn what it means to express compassion over judgment. Pray that our lives display the glory of God in the many dead ends and seemingly wrong turns we make in life.