I had been struggling with deep emotional issues of rejection and hurt. I let feelings of hurt overcome me. During this time I would cry to the Lord and ask Him to help me. I felt the Lord allowed this trial to happen so He could minister to my heart and bring me on the road to emotional maturity. I now know the Lord in a deeper way.
One of the verses the Lord brought to mind was Psalm 37: 23-24:
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD,When you feel you are drowning in your troubles and tears, there the Lord upholds you with His hand. Just imagine how big God's hand is. In our weakness, God is strong, holding us up. As 2 Corinthians 12:9 says: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Sometimes it is in our emotional and relationship struggles with people that our relationship with God undergoes a major testing. We are overwhelmed and we begin to get buffeted by the storms and floods. But God says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." When we are weak and wobbly, about to faint, God's strength upholds us.
And He delights in his way.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down;
For the LORD upholds him with His hand.
The Lord was trying to show me how my hurts were controlling my thoughts and my life, and He wanted me to release them and learn to forgive and to react more maturely. The Lord breaks us to chasten us, to remove what is not from Him. So we will be more like the Lord Jesus.
One thing we should never do in times of suffering is get mad at God. That is a real stupid thing to do. If we have a sin, we should repent and turn back to God. If we are not in sin, we should trust the Lord in the midst of trials. God is faithful. And He upholds us with His hand.
The Lord understands our suffering more than we can ever know. Isaiah 53:3-5 says:
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
The Lord knows what it is to suffer and be rejected. The Lord Jesus took our sins, sorrows and sicknesses on the Cross, so we don't have to bear the punishment for sin ourselves and to live in sorrow and to live defeated by sickness. By His resurrection He triumphed over sin and death.
