Two Things You Must Do When Everything Is All Wrong

Even in the darkest days there is light. Even when everything is all wrong, there is hope. Even in the most tangled path, there is a way to joy. 

Even in the darkest days there is light. Even when everything is all wrong, there is hope. Even in the most tangled path, there is a way to joy. Click To Tweet

When It Is All Wrong

Can I be honest though? I’ve felt hopeless. Not now, but years ago. I believed nothing good would ever come again.

I wanted to give up. But God met me right where I was. And step by tiny step, He instilled me with hope again.

Part of the problem was I thought to have hope I had to have some control over the situation.

Um, no!

Hope is not dependent on our ability to change a situation. Hope doesn’t wax and wane with the current climate of your life.

Hope is rock solid, not in what you or I can do or in what is happening around us, but anchored in the One who created all, sees all, and knows all.

When we know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have hope for eternity.

Hope is rock solid, not in what you or I can do or in what is happening around us, but anchored in the One who created all, sees all, and knows all. When we know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have hope for eternity. Click To Tweet

But in order to feel hopeful in what looks to be a hopeless situation, we must do two things.

Surrender

First we must surrender. 

Let go of your strength. Let God’s might carry you.

Don’t try to figure it all out. Take it one step at a time, trusting God to guide you each step of the way. And if you walk in the wrong direction. Trust Him to turn you around or create a detour to get you back on track.

I know how hard it is to look into a future different from what you had planned and not panic or give into frustration. But we only see dimly or indistinctly (1 Corinthians 13:12). God sees it all; He knows it all; and He has a plan to redeem it all.

So surrender your understanding and rest in His. 

Fight

Although it seems like an oxymoron, you also must fight. You must fight to keep your focus on the Lord.

You must fight to see the good in your life.

You must fight to keep your heart from hardening.

We must fight to see the beauty in a shattered world. To believe it’s there and to purposefully look for it.

You must fight to keep from buying into Satan’s lies that life will never be good … that God doesn’t care … that everything is hopeless.

Sometimes it seems life cannot get any worse. You may feel you are suffocating. You may only see dead-ends everywhere you look.

But sisters, our vision is short-sighted. We can only see such a short distance, and that not very well.

Yes, this life can be incredibly difficult. Circumstances can be heart-breaking.

Evil and Brokenness Cannot Win

But evil and brokenness cannot win. That’s worth repeating: Hear me: Evil and brokenness cannot win!

It’s already been defeated. At the end of this age, when Jesus Christ returns, there will be no more tears, no more broken hearts, no more shattered dreams.

But in the meantime … while we wait.

We must surrender our plans … our control. We must surrender any pretense that we know how things should go.

And we must fight. Fight tooth and nail to hold tight to the truth that God is always good, that hard circumstances do not mean a less loving and caring God.

While we wait for God's redeeming work: 1. We must surrender our plans ... our control. We must surrender any pretense that we know how things should go. 2. And we must fight. Fight tooth and nail to hold tight to the truth that God is always good,... Click To Tweet

In our hardest days … in our most excruciating and lonely seasons, we must surrender and we must fight.

Because that’s the way to find hope in the midst of the hopeless. 

In our hardest days ... in our most excruciating and lonely seasons, we must surrender and we must fight. Because that's the way to find hope in the midst of the hopeless. Click To Tweet

(There will be more practical suggestions on how to do this in a subsequent post.)

“And those who know Your name will put their trust in You,
For You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.” Psalm 9:10, NASB

Reflections: Are you feeling hopeless? Are you still trying to control the situation? Where is your focus? What are you believing about your circumstances and your God? 

By His grace ≈

Julie