Pushed to the Brink and then...

"The Lord reigns, let the people's tremble! ...The Lord is great in Zion; He is over all peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name" Ps. 99:1-3

"Great is Your faithfulness" Lam. 3:23

"My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Ex. 33:14

"Please show me Your glory" Ex. 33:18

Tests are hard and God is better; trials weigh us down and God is stronger.

Sometimes when we feel we have been stretched to the breaking point, when all our stores of energy have been spent, when it seems we are walking in fog, when everything is turned upside down, when all hope seems lost (though we know that it cannot be) - but it feels like that...sometimes God opens up heaven a tiny crack and lets us see a glimpse of His glory, every so slightly and it is enough - it rejuvenates us, it invigorates us, it refocuses us, and we can go on in the strength of that food for days, like Elijah, because God has once again shown Himself to be faithful.

He is always faithful but sometimes we begin to doubt because of the wind and waves of trouble that sweep over us. Praise God He does not crush us, He does not give us more than we can handle [actually He does give us more than we can handle so we will trust in Him and not ourselves] - but He doesn't break us. He makes us stronger in testing and if we would just hold on for dear life to Him who is our anchor, we would see a new strength begin to build. A new resolution with which we fight the daily battles with sin and the world and the devil. The weapons of our warfare are mighty and they pull down strongholds God wants smashed. So that we will stand in His strength and not our own. That we would be purified from all defilement - that clings to us in our daily interactions with a fallen world.

Here we are, on our way to heaven, down here slugging it out - disoriented at times, but re-centered on God and His truth by the mighty hand of God, through fire, through pain, through sickness, through testing, through the furnace of daily and sometimes multiplying attacks upon the security within which we rest. And then, without warning, the fog lifts and there is my beautiful Savior, immovable and unshakable. God is good, He is always good - why did I ever doubt - or did I - I know and I knew He was always there and will be as well. He is faithful and mighty.