When the Night is Long

Have you ever had times of feeling totally helpless? I know I have! A few days ago, I experienced one of those awful, helpless feelings. While out of state, my husband called and informed me he was driving himself to the ER, which was about a half hour away from here he was. He tried to give himself a manicure with a chainsaw. I will spare you the gory details and tell you that he is fine so that you don’t check out all together.

Our girl, was home alone. To say I was rattled, would be accurate. I felt absolutely helpless! It was my first day at a conference, and I didn’t have a car to drive home 6 ½ hours. Besides, I didn’t know yet, how bad things were, or if I was even needed at home. Wait was all I could do. I tried to focus on the reason I was gone—to get away from my life for a few days—to draw close to God. I couldn’t quiet my brain or heart: I was so frustrated that, while my deepest desire was to get a spiritual tune-up, my mind was, once again, preoccupied (understandably so) with “the cares of this world”.

The work before me was to surrender my worries and trust that God was caring for us, even though circumstances were challenging. This was where the battle began. One of the songs declared, “You are good, you are good, oh good!” That was my stumbling block. “I know that God is good. I know that He is!” I argued with myself. I tell that to others often…but, I asked my heart what it believed. My head agreed, but my heart was wary.

Do you ever feel that you can run, but cannot hide?

It’s been a challenging season. I’ve been in a raging battle. I’ve been in heavy battles for friends. And I am weary—we are weary. That was why I went away. And right in my face, there was more issues that hurt my heart and caused fear.

God never wants us to hid our struggles, our pain, or even our sin.

That evening the speaker spoke of weariness and again, that night, the same song came on “You are good, you are good, oh good!” I agreed with God, that He indeed is good, even when it feels like the battle rages on.

Truth. Truth has a way of changing perspective—when you are open to it. The truth—truth I love and needed reminding of—He was right there with me. Here with me, through every trial, every fear, every victory, every everything!

The truth is we get weary. The truth is we need comfort and an advocate. The truth is, we have one in Jesus Christ. When we rest in that simple truth, everything changes.

It is true that sometimes we need a reminder like we need a reminder to change the air filter, because while it is clogged up, you can’t see it’s not effectively removing the dirt any more. It is true that sometimes we need something to startle us awake like we need an alarm to wake us from our slumber. It is true that we need a deep rest and sometimes we need to be reminded that we are never ever alone on this journey. He walks with us. He talks with us. He pulls the plow beside us—we are yoked with Christ.

The song also says, “When the night is holding on to me You are holding on.”

And, when the night is holding on—when the battle feels like it has gone on way too long for you to survive—He is holding you. And those dark thoughts? Or, am I the only one to has them? He will go after them to rescue our hearts. That is why He came, died, and rose again.

His love didn’t stop at the cross and He’s never satisfied with our one-time yes to Him. He wants our yeses all day, every day, because He has an amazing adventure for each of us. And when we believe something worthless, like He’s not completely good, or not truly powerful, or He doesn’t care enough, He will go after that lie. The process might hurt some, but the lies hurt more! The outcome of the process is priceless: conviction of the truth of who He truly is. And, our hearts and our minds will stop battling against each other. We will have a peaceful assurance that He is working all things for the good of those who love Him.

And by faith, we choose to trust in that promise, one yes at a time.

May you trust in His goodness. May you rest in His truth that He is always with you and forever for you. May you experience heavenly peace in your troubles and know He holds you—especially know this—when the night is long.

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 (NASB)