Believe in the power of God

Several weeks ago, I met a young homeless man. He has stopped by for help so we sat down and discussed his life and circumstances.

He was haunted by his drug abuse, struggling to make the right choices in life, split up and estranged from his family, wrestling with his own anger issues and problems with authority, with no clear direction or vision for his future. Alex (not his real name) is a textbook case of life “At the end of your rope,” and he knows it and admits it!

Fascinated by his transparency, and inspired by his candor, I asked him to describe for me what it meant to be at the end of one’s rope. How would a person know that? This is what he said:

▪ Every day, you wake up not knowing where you are going

▪ Walking down the street with no destination

▪ Loss of control over lots of things in life

▪ Constantly asking yourself, “Is this wrong?”

▪ Second guessing yourself at every turn

▪ Not doing right by me anymore (self–harming decisions)

For those who are all too familiar with the phrases and realities of “hitting rock bottom,” “gone to seed,” “by the skin of my teeth” and “at the end of my rope,” you know full well the force of life’s crushing blows. Trauma and drama have a way of upending our sense of stability, strength and stamina.

The Bible describes many people who have known these despairing life junctures. The Apostle Paul was one of them. He said, “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself” (2 Corinthians 1:8).

It should go without saying that phrases like “chin up” actually can make things worse.

Living and walking into our life story can be a hard journey filled with rough and unpredictable terrain. Staying there and choosing to continue can be exhausting and disappointing. There are so many times and reasons why people want to just give up and stop walking! But God calls us to stay in the story. “Keep walking on straight paths, so that the lame foot may not be disabled, but instead be healed” (Hebrews 12:13 GNT).

The Bible euphemistically speaks of life “going down to the pit” (Psalm 30:3). This phrase was used by the people of David’s day to speak of the realm of the dead. That was the place where everything unimaginable and undesirable about life became real. But it was from his places of hardship that David learned to keep walking and not give–up on God.

Today, the average person is faced with the difficult dilemma of how to navigate the ever–flowing tides of culture and steer clear of barrier reefs that so frequently shipwreck lives.

God has promised to help us walk in a way that leads to our victory in doing life right! “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances” (Ezekiel 36:27). Turns out, there is a power from heaven placed within us that overcomes all adversity.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once put this into right perspective when he said, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” Take within yourself today the empowering belief that you are God’s beloved and that his great desire is to favor you for a lifetime (Psalm 30:5)!

Don’t settle for anything less!

This story was originally published November 21, 2015 at 9:39 AM with the headline "Believe in the power of God."