More than once I have heard God say that power belongs to him and that his love is constant. –Psalm 62:11,12 b (GN trans)
Recently a young woman came to our church saying she was overwhelmed with life. She thought it hopeless and didn’t see how she could go on.
Do you sometimes feel a little overwhelmed with life? Does it sometimes seem like no matter how hard you try, no matter how many times you overcome particular obstacles, life just keeps relentlessly eroding your strength, your resolve, your confidence? Does it seem to you, that life just becomes more and more complicated and harder to keep together?
Flip Wilson once expressed it this way. “If I had my entire life to live over, I doubt if I’d have the strength.” Dilbert, the comic strip character had this advice: “When you don’t know what to do, walk fast and look worried. Eat one live toad the first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
Jesus warned his disciples these times would come. He paints a rather gloomy picture of the course of history. We are specifically told that it is not about progress—things aren’t getting better and better. To the contrary, civilization will become more and more dangerous, more and more ungodly, more and more inhuman. Only God’s personal intervention will bring this to an end.
He warned of the threat it poses to our spirit. He described it in terms of its effect on the heart. Hearts will fail for fear. There is the danger of our hearts becoming “weighed down” so much that we would be unable to keep our spiritual perspective and could even be caught unprepared for God’s glorious intervention.
At her request, I prayed with the young woman mentioned earlier. I also shared with her these words from Psalm 62: One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you O God, are strong, and that you O Lord, are loving. It is critical that we hold those two things together. But it is not easy. We tend to either emphasize God’s love or God’s power. Put those two things together and nothing is hopeless. God cares about you and will use his power for your good.
Yes, we live in perilous times for the human spirit. Yet we live in times of unprecedented opportunities and are closer to God’s final victory than any people have ever been.
Discipleship at Messiah 