Into the Fire

You know, people really do have “issues” and “challenges” with loved ones, friends, strangers, opinions, and all sorts of things. However, people also have real sorrows and, yes, problems, with all of the above. Christian people, folks.

Christian people have overwhelming problems which cause them to doubt, fear, and wonder if God has abandoned them in spite of His promises not to do so. The pain of gut-wrenching family struggles lingers and builds anxiety when it seems as though every possible solution has been tried and proven ineffectual. The Biblical standard of conduct has been attempted and achieved, and still no relief. What then?

It’s typical for our current culture to mask the word “problem” and substitute “issue”. The power of positive thinking both in the world and in Christianity doesn’t change the substance of dealing with a problem that leaves one or all involved parties in agonized search of a real and lasting solution. Christians know in their hearts they need to be praying, possibly fasting. Whether or not they will sustain prayer through an ordeal depends upon their core faith. Because they know from past experience that sometimes even though many people are praying for a certain outcome, a different one, which is less satisfactory or even the opposite of the multitude of prayers, shows up. And it scares them. What will the Lord do?

Sexual molestation/abuse, rape, homosexuality, suicide, cutting, pornography, drug/alcohol addiction, pedophilia, depression, oppression, demon possession . . . Christians can come from the depths or enter into them. Either way they’re going to have to deal with problems and bona fide sorrows. No one is immune to temptation, to places they might not want to go but feel driven to pursue. In Christ they are given the opportunity to flee, but without the power of the Holy Spirit, sin can easily overwhelm a soul.

I have no surefire ways of problem solving to offer. There are seasons of suffering if the truth be known. Sometimes problems have no easy, pat solutions, and to indicate simplistic formulas is insulting to those who are suffering in the midst of them. People have to come to their own conclusions in their faith. They have to seek God and see God for who He is. All the knowledge of Scriptures, all the Biblical accounts, and all the kind clichés of our faith will ring hollow if a person is lost in the depth of hopeless turmoil. They have to take it up with their Lord. They have to know He is the only One who can give hope, promise, a way out of the horror, or ugliness, or problem. Ultimately, it’s between them and Him.

Some of us limit our God and reap the consequences of our foolishness. We put Him in a box and insist He only operates a certain way which narrows the opportunities for solutions. Look at the life of our Lord on this earth. Look at the lives of the disciples turned apostles in the book of Acts. Don’t you long for the Spirit-filled life? The life which at least gives you a course of action employing all the attributes of a powerful God. When there are serious problems headed toward real sorrows, we need all of our God’s arsenal for attacking the schemes of an enemy who is always involved in the destruction of mankind. Don’t hold back. Seek Him first with your whole heart. At least then you will have peace that only He can offer. No person, place, or thing can offer it to you in the midst of suffering. It has to come via supernatural infusion. And it is available 24/7 for the asking and seeking.

Some solutions come slowly and seem to have come too late. How can we know the reasons? That “big picture” thing is going on, and we don’t have but a small screen, a cheap set. We have to decide on any given day what and who to believe. Will it be God or will it be circumstances? We wonder sometimes, don’t we? Fallible and faithless, broken-hearted or just broken, we stumble around in our faith and falter as often as we triumph. Our heart yearns to do right, our flesh yearns to do wrong.

Ultimately, He looks upon our hearts. We must opt to keep them straining toward Him. Why? Because for all the sorrows in this life, there is one beyond this one. And that’s the one where all this won’t survive. The pain, the struggle, the sorrow, the sin . . . all gone. For that reason and for the One who provides the heaven we hope so desperately exists, we carry on, find a way, stay in prayer, cry the tears, and persevere in spite of “issues”, “challenges”, gut-wrenching problems and bona fide sorrows.

Father, you look upon the hearts of your people. Jesus, you weep with your saints as you intercede before the Father. Holy Spirit, you console, comfort, counsel whenever the ears of your people are turned to listen. I pray for all of us, Lord, who need you at our desperate hours, days, weeks, years. Forever, we are always in need of your love, power, counsel. Help us to be sensitive to your voice, to resist the enemy, to flee from evil, to arm ourselves with your full armor, to hear and obey, to hope, to believe, and to pray. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.