Saturday, April 24, 2010

Despondent or Desperate

Do you ever just get tired of fighting for something? I do. Sometimes I think, yea, I think I will just give up. It seems it would be easier that way, rather than continue to fight. Truth be told, sometimes giving up is our only option because we truly don’t have the physical or emotional strength left to continue the battle.

There is a word for this, giving up and not caring, a friend of mine called it despondent. We can choose to be despondent about so many things: I am never going to be happy again, so I just give up. My marriage will never be any better, I am done. My kids are never going to listen, I’m just not even going to try any more.
Despondency. It can lead us to hand over our marriage, our happiness, our children, our hopes, our dreams, even our life right over to Satan. It’s a hopeless feeling that leads us to just hand him the deed to the things we love the most.

I don’t believe that we do this intentionally by any means! We just get so tired and exhausted and overwhelmed that we just can’t fight any more! But…THERE IS GOOD NEWS!!!! There is another way!!!

When we are tired and exhausted and can’t battle it any more, we have this offer straight from our savior.

Matthew 11: 28-30 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

When I read this last night, it was like a light bulb went off in my head! Just because I am tired, and don’t have the strength to fight any more, does not by any means mean that I have to become despondent. Rather than handing over whatever it is to Satan, like here ya go Satan, take my marriage and rip it to shreds, I can lay it at the feet of the Savior instead. I can say, “God I am tired of fighting, I don’t know what to do, but you say that you will give me rest. Rest for my soul. I hand “it” over to you, trusting you, because I know that what you say is true.” Rather than giving up and saying “I don’t care anymore”, I give up and say “I know I can’t do it anymore, but you can. I will continue to have hope because I place my hope in you, knowing you can do infinitely more than I can ask or imagine.”

What freedom that is! It is okay that we get tired and exhausted sometimes, because really, there are just some battles that we weren’t meant to fight on our own. Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” We are foolish to believe that a battle as such can be fought by our strength alone. And if we try, we will inevitably lose strength, but when we hand the battle over to Christ, the spirit groans for us!

Despondency you can leave, I don’t need you anymore. Desperate, hello, I’m longing for you Jesus.

0 comments:

Post a Comment