Feb 13, 2013
My Saturday Night Battle
Checking Facebook
It was Saturday night. I was ready for Sunday morning, so I thought I’d check email and Facebook before going to bed.
I clicked on Facebook, and a post I read made my heart sink with discouragement, frustration, hopelessness.
In less than a second my heart changed from peace, contentment, and hope — to worry, pain, and fear.
What Can I Do?
Moments like these show the true state of my faith. They show what I am really trusting as my treasure. So was I going to —
- wallow in the dark pleasure of self-pity?
- complain to my wife?
- seek the satisfaction of bearing a grudge?
- head to the refrigerator to find something to eat or drink?
- channel-surf the pain away?
- come up with my own plan to solve this problem?
- grit my teeth and try to feel peace and joy through will-power?
- beat myself up because I’m not rejoicing in the Lord?
Or — was I going to turn to Jesus Christ, and trust Him to help me, save me, change me?
What I Did
God gave me grace to turn to Jesus Christ.
I sat at my desk, put my head in my hands, and turned to Jesus just was I was —
Lord Jesus, I’m a mess. Look at my heart — full of despair and anger and frustration.
Help me. Forgive me for the unbelief that’s fueling my discouragement.
Thank you for giving me faith to turn to You.
Help me. Show me who You are. Strengthen my faith. Change my heart.
What He Did
Usually my next step would be to find promises in God’s Word to strengthen my faith and overcome my hopelessness.
But while I was still praying, God did something different. He reminded me of a blessing He had recently brought me.
And almost instantly my heart changed.
It was not a matter of looking on the bright side. It was that the blessing reminded me that God is faithful (Deut 7:9), strong (Isa 26:14), rejoicing-to-do-me good (Jer 32:41), and the only Treasure I will ever need (Psa 73:25-26).
And when I remembered who God was, I saw that Facebook post in a whole different light —
- God was in sovereign control of it (Gen 50:20).
- God had ordained it to bring me even more joy in Him (2Cor 4:17).
- God would give me wisdom to know how to deal with it (James 1:5).
This took maybe 15 seconds. And as a result (honest truth) my heart was transformed.
I felt sweet joy in God, strong peace about this situation, and rock-solid hope for the future.
Not How It Usually Works
But this is not how my battles for faith for usually go.
Usually they take more time. Usually they involve lengthy prayer over God’s promises before I feel the Holy Spirit strengthening my faith and changing my heart.
But even though this time was different, the point is that God delivered me.
And He will deliver you, too.
Thoughts? Comments?
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(Picture is from everystockphoto and is by jasonhe.)
Thank you for being honest about your struggles. Thank you for sharing your journeys from fear and discontentment to faith and trust. Please don’t stop reminding us to stop, turn to God, and ask Him for help.
You are so welcome, Betsy. And thank you for your encouraging words — they are deeply appreciated.
In Christ,
Steve Fuller
I like this article becuase it took only 15 seconds. Even though it doesn’t always take 15 seconds the fact that it might only take 15 seconds to do it the right way encourages me. Sometimes my instant reaction isn’t to press into God because I think it’s going to be too time consuming at that particular moment. What this experience taught me is that not every battle is a big one, not every battle involves intense introspection and not every battle was allowed by God because of some huge guilt on our part. Now, the fact it might just only take 15 seconds will encourage me to start the right way – even if after 15 seconds I find it’s going to be a deeper one just those first 15 seconds will bring me to the right place for whatever needs to occur. Thanks for sharing
Your immediate reaction in not turning to God in a painful moment, is because you feel as though it would take to long? 0.o that’s a new one for me and has left me baffled LOL Please, tell me why? I’d love to know =) Is that just your own personal nature?
I like that you were encouraged by the 15-second time length. I, too, hold back from seeking the Lord because I think it will take so long. So you are right — this IS an encouragment 🙂
Onward in Christ!
Steve Fuller
Each of us has our own individual besetting sin – the one that keeps on reappearing so temptingly – and I’m convinced that for 99.9% of us that sin involves an infatuation or an obsession or an addiction. That recurring sin could be socially unacceptable (e.g. attempting suicide) to morally reprehensible (chemical dependency and trafficking in human slavery) to socially accepted (workaholics) to morally admired (placing one’s ministry of helping other people above all other desires).
The key to battling sin – and it is a battle for everyone, and every disciple of Jesus – is to seek out a promise that God makes pertaining to the sin and then trust that God is faithful to fulfill the promise He has made. What is so amazing is that in Jesus’ simple Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) there is a wealth of promises to be trusted. And without faith (trusting God’s promises) it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 6).
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Steve.
I agree that they key to battling sin is to use God’s promises – especially God’s promise that He Himself is my all-satisfying Treasure.
The reason His promise of satisfaction is so important is because every temptation is basically a call to trust something else to satisfy me more than Jesus Christ Himself. That has helped me time and time again.
May the Lord richly bless you, brother,
Steve Fuller