It Can Only Get Better If We Keep On Trying

FINE LINES restrain the majesty of life and this one has a thread hanging between the right sort of trying and the wrong sort. We can try to honour God, being faithful to his Word, discerning of his will, and attentive to his Spirit, or we might try in our own strength, forcing our way through, dictating to God how it all might be. One way is the right way; the other, the wrong way.

Life has a way about it that it trips us up at inopportune times – and the superstitious call such cursed enigmas, “They always come in threes!” What about when numbers 5 and 6 come along? What then?

The premise of this article is, It can only get better if we keep on trying. I might insert the word ‘eventually’ after ‘better’. Let’s test it.

When we say, “This, too, shall pass,” we agree with a truth that has held millions through the darkness of whole lives. Although some never had a taste of what we might enjoy on this earth, they continued to believe that, this too shall pass. This is not said to guilt us, for many, many contemporaries have serious reason to give up, yet they never ultimately do. You, the reader, are probably one of them.

When God Gives Reason to Grin

At times of giving up and giving in, we need the knowledge of God that saves us afresh. It’s amazing how God can break into our lives and give us a reasonable hope, if only we are looking for it. And when we feel lost we are particularly desperate. We will cling to a veneer of joy and that will see us through the tremulous minute.

As soon as we see something worth challenging the soul darkness that subsumes us, we are prepared to run with it, and this causes us to grin from within, for the light relief experienced; which is its own hope.

Our human sight really is incredibly limited. God can change the circumstances of our perceptions quicker than he can change the circumstances, and this is how he answers prayer for the most part. Prayer changes us. It’s not us coercing God.

***

When we give to God our fullest selves in the midst of a chaotic season, the Lord will give us strength to get through it. Faith says, “It will get better,” without saying, “It better get better.” Faith believes and never ultimately gives up.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.