[Faith-talk] FW: [reachingouttoothersgroup] Fwd: WHAT TO DO WHEN IT SEEMS LIKE EVERYTHING IS AGAINST YOU …

Sun May 15 13:12:45 UTC 2011

Original Message: 
From: LRSBNA at aol.com
To: reachingouttoothersgroup at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [reachingouttoothersgroup] Fwd: WHAT TO DO WHEN IT SEEMS LIKE
EVERYTHING IS AGAINST YOU .
Date: 
Sun, 15 May 2011 09:04:59 EDT

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 From: webmaster at answers2prayer.org
To: lrsbna at aol.com
Sent: 5/14/2011  11:04:10 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: WHAT TO DO WHEN IT SEEMS LIKE  EVERYTHING IS AGAINST YOU .

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Welcome to the   
Nugget  

Today's Devotional:    
WHAT TO DO WHEN IT SEEMS LIKE EVERYTHING IS  AGAINST YOU .

Do you ever feel like God has abandoned you? Like  everything is going
good 
for everyone but you? Like no matter how much  or how ardently you seek 
God, He doesn't hear you, or worse, He doesn't  care?

Maybe you've had a great sin in your life, and though  you've been taught

God forgives all sin, it seems like maybe just this  one He overlooked?

Or perhaps you've been taught that God blesses  those who love Him, but 
despite the fact that you've tried to serve Him  faithfully, you see 
unbelievers experiencing blessing upon blessing,  while you seem to have
gone by 
completely unnoticed!

David felt  this way, and a record of it is found in Ps. 73:3-28. When
this 
Psalm  was written, he was at a point in his life when he couldn't hear 
God's  voice. In fact, he felt as if only the wicked were the recipients
of  
God's love and grace:

"For I envied the arrogant when I saw  the prosperity of the wicked. They

have no struggles; their bodies are  healthy and strong. They are free
from 
the burdens common to man; they  are not plagued by human ills. . They
scoff, 
and speak with malice; in  their arrogance they threaten oppression.
Their 
mouths lay claim to  heaven, and their tongues take possession of the
earth .
 This is what  the wicked are like - always carefree, they increase in  
wealth."

And though these wicked folk even seem to blaspheme  the Most High God, 
someone who has strived to keep his heart pure before  the Lord, someone
like 
David, receives only punishment from the  Lord:

"Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain  have I washed my
hands 
in innocence. All day long I have been  plagued; I have been punished
every 
morning ."

I know that  many of you out there can relate to what David is
experiencing 
here. All  we have to do is look around us when we are in the midst of 
trouble and  it seems like God is blessing everyone BUT us! He is taking
care of 
the  unbelievers OVER the believers!

And what do we tend to do when we  are in such a situation?

Most of us react by closing ourselves in  and focusing our thoughts on
our 
problems and how unfair God is. But  this isn't what David did: ". till I

entered the sanctuary of God  ."

David didn't just sit there accusing God of being unfair,  he sought God!

And what happened?

First of all, in the  presence of the Almighty God, things came into 
perspective: "Then I  understood their (the wicked) final destiny. Surely
you 
place them on  slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin ."

And once  brought face to face with Truth, David was humbled: "When my 
heart  was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant;
I  
was a brute beast before you."

Then he was again able to see  reality. Notice the Truth that he saw:

1. God never left him:  "Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my
right 
hand. You guide me  with your counsel, and afterward you will take me
into  
glory."

2. God is his everything: "Whom have I in heaven  but you? And earth has 
nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my  heart may fail, but God is
the 
strength of my heart and my portion  forever."

3. No matter what, he can always rejoice in God's  presence: "But as for 
me, it is good to be near God."

4.  He will tell of God's goodness, no matter what: "I have made the  
Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your  deeds."

Friends, when it seems that the Lord has abandoned  us, let's remember 
David and let's follow his example. Let's seek God!  Let's rejoice in His 
presence! And when we do, we will learn 4 important  lessons:

a. God will punish those who have created the situations  we are in.

B. When we are grieved and our spirits embittered, we  become senseless
and 
ignorant, a brute beast before God.

C. We  are nothing without God. Even in the midst of horrible 
circumstances, it  is good to be near God, to make the Sovereign Lord our
refuge, to  
seriously be able to say, "God is the strength of my heart and my 
portion 
forever!"

D. No matter the circumstances, God has  never left us!

Then all that's left to do is to tell of God's  goodness!

If we follow David's example, then our perspectives  will change. Our 
hearts will lighten, and we will again be filled with  the joy of the
Lord.

Don't believe David?

Why not try it  for yourselves?

In His love,  
Lyn

Lyn Chaffart, Speech-Language  Pathologist, mother of two teens, Author
and 
Moderator for The Nugget, a  tri-weekly internet newsletter, and
Scriptural 
Nuggets, a website  devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational 
poems, _www.scripturalnuggets.org_ (http://www.scripturalnuggets.org/) , 
with 
Answers2Prayer Ministries, _www.Answers2Prayer.org_ 
(http://www.answers2prayer.org/) .        Announcements:      
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for? Prayer works! The Bible  confirms this in James 5:16 "The prayer of
a 
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and let us pray in agreement with you! "For where two or three  come 
together in my name, there am I with them." (Matt  18:20 NIV) Hallelujah! 

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In His love,

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