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Have you ever felt that way?
Do you, perhaps, feel this way right now?
Likely the answer is “yes”, or you wouldn’t be reading this post. Please understand that you are not alone. Also know that this is an attitude God understands, for I found that exact phrase in my Bible this morning:
“How miserable I am! I feel like the fruit picker after the harvest who can find nothing to eat. Not a cluster of grapes or a single early fig can be found to satisfy my hunger. The godly people have all disappeared; not one honest person is left on the earth. They are all murderers, setting traps even for their own brothers…” (Micah 7:1-2 NLT)
Micah’s problem was the fall of Israel. That was, perhaps, the worst thing that could have happened in his life.
You may not feel “miserable” because of Israel’s fall. Your source of misery may be that diagnosis of cancer. It may be how hard on your body the chemotherapy is turning out to be. Or it may not be cancer at all, but some other diagnosis affecting either you or a loved one. Or it may be financial concerns, relationship problems, difficulties at work, too much stress…
The list could go on; but whatever the reason behind your depression, you genuinely and understandably feel unhappy, and you can honestly lament, with Micah, “How miserable I am!”
Micah goes on for about 4 more verses listing example upon example of why he is so miserable. I will simply leave these words out and ask you to fill in the blanks with the misery happening in your own life, but then I will ask you to take Micah 7 one step farther. After spending 6 verses lamenting the valid source of his misery, Micah suddenly changes his tone: “As for me, I look to the Lord for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me.” (Micah 7:7 NLT)
You see, it doesn’t matter how bad things are, we still have hope! We can confidently say, with Micah, “I look to the Lord for help”! “I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God WILL CERTAINLY hear me!”
And with that truth girded around our waists, holding us together, we can then rise up and boldly say, as Micah did: “Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I WILL RISE again. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord WILL BE my light…He WILL TAKE UP my case and give me justice for ALL I HAVE SUFFERED from my enemies. The Lord WILL bring me into the light, and I WILL SEE His righteousness. Then my enemies will see that the Lord is on my side. They will be ashamed that they taunted me, saying, ‘So where is the Lord—that God of yours?’ With my OWN EYES I WiLL SEE their downfall; they WiLL BE trampled like mud in the streets.” (Micah 7:8,9b-10)
I challenge you today to personalize the above verses by putting in YOUR current enemy problem in place of the words “my enemies”: “Do not gloat over me, ______! For though I fall, I WILL RISE again. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord WILL BE my light…He WILL TAKE UP my case and give me justice for ALL I HAVE SUFFERED from my _______. The Lord WILL bring me into the light, and I WILL SEE His righteousness. Then my ________will see that the Lord is on my side. They will be ashamed that they taunted me, saying, ‘So where is the Lord—that God of yours?’ With my OWN EYES I WiLL SEE their downfall; they WiLL BE trampled like mud in the streets.”.
Now declare these verses over your situation, ever standing in faith that God WILL save you!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
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