Devotions

When I asked the Holy Spirit to show me how to guard against neglect, he led me to consider Peter’s drifting and his eventual renewal. This man denied Christ, even cursing and telling his accuser, “I don’t know him.”

What had happened? What had brought Peter to that point? It was pride, the result of self-righteous boasting. This disciple had said to himself and others, “I could never grow cold in my love for Jesus. I’ve reached a place in my faith where I don’t have to be warned. Others may drift, but I will die for my Lord.”

However, Peter forsook his calling after the crucifixion and returned to his old career, telling the others, “I’m going fishing.” What he really was saying was “I can’t handle this. I’d thought that I couldn’t fail, but nobody has ever failed God worse than I did. I just can’t face the struggle anymore.”

By that point, Peter had repented of his denial of Jesus. He had returned to the other disciples and prayed with them, but he was still a frayed man inside.

As Jesus waited for the disciples to return to shore, an issue remained unsettled in Peter’s life. It wasn’t enough that Peter was secure in his salvation. It wasn’t enough that he would fast and pray as any devoted believer would do. No, the issue that Christ wanted to address in Peter’s life was neglect in another form.

As they sat around the fire on shore, eating and fellowshipping, Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Each time Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know I do,” and Christ responded in turn, “Feed my sheep.” Note that Jesus didn’t remind him to watch and pray or to be diligent in reading God’s Word. Christ presumed those things had already been well taught. No, the instruction he gave Peter was “Feed my sheep.”

I believe that in that simple phrase, Jesus was instructing Peter on how to guard against neglect. He was saying, in essence, “I want you to forget about your failure and that you drifted from me. You’ve come back to me now, and I’ve forgiven and restored you. So it’s time to get your focus off of your doubts, failures and problems. The way to do that is by not neglecting my people and to minister to their needs. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

Of all 150 psalms, Psalm 34 is my absolute favorite. It is all about our Lord’s faithfulness to deliver his children from great trials and crises. In it, King David declares, “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. …The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear him, and delivers them. …The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. …Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:4, 7,17,19).

When did David do this crying out? It probably happened when he was feigning madness in Gath and couldn’t pray audibly in the Philistines’ presence. This brings us to a great truth regarding God’s deliverance. Sometimes the loudest cry is made without an audible voice.

I know what this kind of inner ‘crying out’ is like. Many of my most important, heart-wrenching, deepest cries have been made in total silence.

At times, I’ve been so numbed by circumstances that I couldn’t speak, overwhelmed by situations so beyond me that I couldn’t think clearly enough to pray. On occasion, I’ve sat alone in my study baffled that I was unable to say anything to the Lord at all. The whole time, though, my heart was crying out, “God, help me! I don’t know how to pray just now, so hear the cry of my heart. Deliver me from this situation.”

Have you ever been there? Have you ever thought, “I don’t know what this is all about. I’m so overwhelmed by my circumstance and flooded by deep pain that I can’t explain it. Lord, I don’t even know what to say to you. What is going on?”

I believe this is exactly what David went through when he was living among the Philistines. When he wrote Psalm 34, he was admitting, “I was in a situation so overwhelming that I played the part of a fool. Inside I wondered, ‘What is going on with me? How has this happened? Lord, help!’” It seems like David was saying, “This poor man cried out from within, not knowing what or how to pray. The Lord heard me and delivered me.” It was a deep cry from the heart, and the Lord is faithful to hear every whimper, no matter how faint.

God had promised Abraham that he would have a son, one who would become the seed of many nations. Remarkably, Abraham didn’t flinch at this promise, even though he was well past the age of siring children. The essence of true faith is found in this single verse. “And not being weak in faith, he [Abraham] did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb” (Romans 4:19, NKJV).

To the natural mind, it was impossible for this promise to be fulfilled; but Abraham didn’t dwell on the hopelessness. According to Paul, the patriarch gave no thought to how God would keep his promise. He didn’t reason with God, “But, Lord, I have no seed to plant. Sarah has no life in her womb to conceive. My wife is past the ability to bear children. How will you do it, Lord?” Instead of entertaining such questions, Abraham simply did not consider it.

When God is at work producing a faith that is better than gold, he first puts a sentence of death on all human resources. He closes the door to all human reasoning, bypassing every means of a rational deliverance.

The faith that pleases God is born in a place of deadness. I’m speaking here of the deadness of all human possibilities. It is a place where man-made plans flourish at first then die. It is a place where human hopes bring temporary relief but soon crash, adding to a sense of helplessness.

Have you been at this place of deadness? Has it seemed like you have no options left? The heavens are like brass when you pray.

I declare to you that this is God at work. His Spirit is working to get you to stop considering the impossibilities. Stop looking to human ways and means, trying to think your way out of your situation. The Holy Ghost is urging you, “Quit hunting for help from some man. Quit focusing on how hopeless you think your situation is. Those are hindrances to your faith.”

May the same words be said of us that were said of Abraham, “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform” (Romans 4:20-21).

I am writing this message for all who are on the brink of exhaustion, about to faint and overwhelmed by your present situation. You’ve been a faithful servant, and you’re confident that God can do the impossible. However, you have some lingering doubts about his willingness to intervene in your own struggle.

Consider this verse. “Jesus called his disciples to himself and said, ‘I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.’” (Matthew 15:32, NKJV).

I believe Christ was making an important statement to his disciples here. He was saying, “I’m going to do more for the people than heal them. I’ll make sure they have enough bread to eat. I’m concerned about everything that affects their lives. You have to see that I am more than just power. I am also compassion. If you see me only as a healer and miracle worker, you will fear me. If you also see me as compassionate, you’re going to love and trust me.”  

I wonder how many readers of this message have spoken words of faith and hope to others who are facing distressing, seemingly hopeless situations? You have urged them, “Hold on! The Lord is able. He is a miracle-working God, and his promises are true. So don’t lose hope because he’s going to answer your cry.” If someone were to ask us, “Do you really believe in miracles?”, our answer would quickly be “Yes, of course. I believe in every miracle I’ve read about in scripture.” Yet this answer is not good enough.

The Lord’s question to each one of us is “Do you believe I can work a miracle for you?” Do we believe that he will work not just one miracle but a miracle for every crisis we face? We need more than by-gone miracles in history. We need up-to-date, personal miracles that are designed just for us and our situation.

Think of the one difficulty you’re facing right now. Do you really believe the Lord can and will work it out in ways you can’t conceive? That kind of faith commands the heart to quit fretting. It tells you to rest in the Father’s care, trusting him to do it all in his way and time.

A very popular verse for many Christians is “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28, ESV). The word in there that I really noticed is ‘together’ because if we think that all things in our lives will work out for our own good, we're going to get discouraged and disappointed.

However, the verse says, “All things works together…” That word ‘together’ is powerful because troubling events happen, and things don’t look good, but those trials come together with what God's doing. He’s covering our situation, redeeming and transforming it. When you look at the big picture and take in everything in our lives and other people’s lives, God always makes suffering work out for good.

Listen to this story from a young pastor. He wrote, “The past 12 years have been an extended season of trials and sorrow for me and my family. I never imagined that my college years would include caring for my ailing mother and sitting at her bedside as God took her home. I never imagined my wife and I would celebrate our first anniversary in the hospital at the bedside of our son who was born prematurely with Down Syndrome and a complex heart disease.

“I never imagined caring for a son who would go through over 20 surgeries, including five open-heart procedures. I never imagined I could feel so much sorrow and pain as a father watching my precious son struggle to be around people, struggle to communicate, eat, play, sleep, process the world around him. I never imagined that life as a husband and father would so constantly bring me to the end of my strength. I never imagined that the Lord would bring so many tears into my life."

Then he went on to say, “Yet I also never imagined that life could be this beautiful, full of joy, blessed and grace-lavished. My refuge and salvation are sure (see Psalms 18:2). For mine is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort (see 2 Corinthians 1:3). God is truly faithful.”

I want to encourage you to have more of a hunger for the Word of God in the midst of your suffering. Know that God’s plans are all working for his glory and our good, even if we can’t see him moving right now.