JESUS CAN CARRY YOU. HE CARRIED YOUR CROSS!
Psalm 9:9,10 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
It seems that David had trouble all his life. Even when he was young taking care of his father’s sheep, he had to kill lion and bear and other animals that might threaten them and himself. Once he had killed Goliath and King Saul enlisted him in the army, he was constantly fighting in some battle. It was kill or be killed on a regular basis in his life. But it wasn’t until later when Saul felt that David might take away the throne of his son Jonathan, that King Saul began his pursuit to kill David. There were times when David even had to leave the Promised Land and go to another country for safety. And only after King Saul and his son’s were killed in battle did he began to find relief from constant attacks. But even after David became king, his life was threatened. He had wars with many nations and peoples, but the threat to his life that had to bother him most must have been from his son Absalom.
The Book of Psalms records many of the cries for help that he brought up to God. In so many of them we can almost see his heart question why God may be taking so long to free him from his enemy, but soon he would begin to praise the Lord because he had confidence that the Lord would not let him down. I know that you like myself have had times when it seemed all odds were against you, and it seemed unlikely that you could be free of your problem. Whether it is a person that is bothering you to finances, life can put you in a barrel and put a lid of no hope on top. But like with David, when we have problems we have the Lord that we can count on. He is a refuge for us, and he will not forsake us. He has said that even to the ends of the age he will not forsake us.
Even for David there were times when it appeared that the Lord was waiting too long. God was too late for him, and he will not be late for us either. God’s knows what we are going through, and sometimes he uses the tough times in our life to toughen us up. It is almost always the case that we grow in faith, trust and our personal relationship with the Lord in times of trouble. No one like those difficult times, and God does not expect us to. He does expect that when the times get tough, that the tough get going. My very good friend Max Goodwin used to tell me this a lot when we were in high school. I was not good with my subjects and he was one of the smartest guys in our class, and we had a class of around 500 kids. I struggled with depression and poor self-esteem, and many times Max would encourage me to keep going.
Our Christian pilgrimage is full of trials and tribulations from the powers of darkness to just life in general. It is easy to want to just give up on Jesus and even life in general. But like my friends Max Goodwin and Ralph Ward being there to encourage me on, we have Jesus. When things get tough for us, we have one that is tough for us and Jesus can keep us going onward and upward. There is victory in Jesus. Don’t get discouraged or give up on him! Jesus is not about to give up on you!
Prayer: Thank you Lord Jesus for being so faithful for us. Please help us to not get discouraged, but please help us to be strong and courageous just like Moses told Joshua and he told Israel. I know you won’t let us down. You carried our cross, you can carry us too! We love you Jesus.
