M has been having quite a difficult time at work. Everything seems to be going wrong and there's no help. When I see him struggle, sometimes I really wish we were back home in SG. Although life is good here for me, it makes me really helpless and frustrated when I can't help him. So while finding for a word to encourage him, I came back to my favourite book "If you want to walk on water, You've got to get out of the boat" by John Ortberg.
He explains that all of us, at some point, end up in a cave. "The cave is where you end up when your props, supports, and crutches get stripped away. The cave is where you find yourself when you thought you were going to do great things, have a great family, or boldly go where no one had gone before, and it becomes clear that things will not work out as you dreamed. Perhaps you are in a cave because of foolish choices. Perhaps it is a result of circumstances you could not even control. Most likely it is a combination of the two." Sometimes coming to Geneva does feel like this, esp when work for M is going hay wire.
David ended up in this cave (cave of Adullam). On the run from Saul, he spent quite some time stuck there. He also got stuck with all the down and out crowd. 1 Sam 22:2 "All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader." . To make things worse, one day, they returned home to find that their wives and children had been carried off. At this point, things could not have been worse for David, he was in danger because the others in the team were talking of stoning him. However, 1 Sam 30:6 says "But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God." John Ortberg explains- "But when I come to know in the marrow of my bones that I am just as valued and loved by God when I have fallen flat on my face, then I am gripped by a love stronger than success or failure.".
"Sometimes you are in a cave, and no human action is able to get you out. There is something you can't fix, can't heal, or can't escape, and all you can do is trust God. Finding ultimate refuge in God means you become so immersed in His presence, so convinced of His goodness, so devoted to His lordship that you find even the cave is a perfectly safe place to be because He is there with you."
I pray I may be able to be like David and strengthen myself in the Lord when i'm stuck in the caves.
This was an encouraging read for me, I hope it blesses you and M too. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/do-not-silence-your-mess
ReplyDeletePraying for u both!