Are you on the verge of depression in this season of life? Do you have pressures due to your work, or the absence of it that cause you to be in constant mental anguish? Do you have fears for your health because of Covid-19, or Ebola or any other disease prominent in this time? Are you intimidated by the size of your own dreams? And now you fear your dreams are just that. Dreams that have no place in the tomorrow that is your future. Does your world seem to be crashing on top of you? Event after event building up a load on your back you doubt you can bear?
If so, then the first thing that will help you as a believer is to admit that you are facing a storm. Living in denial of the truth does not make it go away. Refusing to see it does not make it faith. I say this because often as believers, we want to deny the reality of a bad situation. If I work in an organisation that is struggling to balance its books, I have to accept the reality that if that continues, it will mean layoffs. If I live in an economy where there is 90% unemployment, I have to first realise that there is a storm I am facing. Once we do so, we can ask ourselves the question, “What are the actions we can take in the storm to overcome it or to live through it?”
The kind of questions we will ask and the actions we will take will be guided by our internal compass. What is an internal compass you may ask? The answer will be found in Proverbs 4:23 which instructs us to guard our heart above all things, because out of it flow the issues of life. From our hearts will flow the hope that says tomorrow can be better or the fear that says this will never end. From our hearts will come the boldness to stand as a lion or the timidity to scurry away like a lion. Many times we will know in our minds what the correct posture to take but our hearts will know a different reality. The reality from which we will unfortunately act. Thankfully, scripture also provides wisdom for how to calibrate our internal guide.
Matthew 6:22 tells us that our eyes are the lamp of the body. If the eyes are healthy, then the whole body will be full of light. Our eyes govern what we allow inside our hearts. This is more than a cursory glance, this is referring to where our attention is; where we feed our minds with images, videos, thoughts etc. We may not realise it, but what we feed ourselves with matters greatly. If all we fix our eyes on is binging on Netflix, we will think like what we see on Netflix. We will react like our Netflix characters and not even be aware of it. We can replace Netflix with Nollywood, WWE, Premier League Soccer or anything it is that is designed for entertainment. If that is all our eyes see, then that will be in our compass. You may think I am being extreme, but what do you think causes football hooliganism or others to declare that football is a religion?
So then, how do we have our hearts accurately calibrated to ask the right questions in the middle of the storm? We find the answer in Hebrews 12:2 which says “fix your eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” Which in a practical way, is to remain in His word. Not in a mechanical way where I have to meet a daily quota, but in a relational way. We stay in His word to hear him speak to us, to hear him reassure us and to hear him encourage us. We stay in His word to see the picture of the future he has for us; a future here on this earth and in this life. It also means we continue to be prayerful. Again, not in a mechanical way where we have to meet a quota of hours a day, but where we continually remain in conversation and communion with him.
When we do so, we will realise we have a permanent reason to hope. Our Lord reigns supreme. He loves us beyond our wildest imagination and he withholds nothing good from us. We can fully trust him and fear not in the face of our trials because we know that our God is the one who is our defender. I will invite you to do a couple of things today to help you move from where you are mentally today to a place of greater peace and trust in God:
- Make a list of five things God has done for you unexpectedly. When you do, thank Him and praise Him for it.
- Read Psalms 91 aloud to yourself. Where it says pestilence, or fear, or arrow-replace that with your deepest darkest fears.
- Read Psalms 103 aloud to yourself. Make it personal. Replace your with your name, replace they with I. Read it and hear just how great God’s love is for you
This will greatly blesses you and helps you make the leap from fear to faith and from despair to hope.
Selah.