Clinging to God

I have been trying to do what Mom and Dad need done as she recovers from her nasty fall. I was up very early yesterday, and thought I could go for a bike ride. The folks wouldn't be up and out for at least 2 hours. Alas, what met my eyes when I popped open the back of the van was my little folding bike with a flat tire. Yesterday, it was my new and suddenly non-operating phone wireless headset (due to joint issues I can't hold the phone very long or it is painful so I must use the headset.) Before that it was the flat tire on my car while on vacation, then the blown fuse, then the broken rack and pinion. Then my poor mom falling. Then difficult family issues. Then when I traveled to my folks it was the oil in the windshield washer fluid that made me drive blind throught a rainstorm.

The folding bike flat tire was the disaster d' jour.

Sometimes, it is very hard to discern who is speaking: God or Satan? Are trials and obstacles placed in our path to increase our trust and dependence on God, or to discourage us so that we turn from Him? I immediately prayed that no matter which was bringing the daily onslaught of struggles, I would seek God and His will. I said out loud, "I despise you Satan, and I will only cling to God harder. Leave me."

All God's people faced unbearable circumstances at times. One only needs to read the Psalms to know that they felt overwhelmed, unequipped to face what was thrown at them, despairing, and besieged. Sometimes, in fact often, worshiping God does not bring ease to our life. Sometimes the more we desire to do what He would have us do, the harder life becomes, and the more virulent the attacks by the enemy.

Through it all, we are to cling to God, knowing when we are too weak to cling any long, He is still hanging on to us.

I send a daily Bible verse to the women I stay in touch with who choose life over abortion. The verse below was the verse that I chose yesterday. This verse reminds me that we should worship God not because of what He gives us but because of who He is. Our Creator, our Father, our Lord and Savior. Most of all, we are to trust and know He is Good, and He is Love. What we are enduring, He oversees, and His eyes are always upon us.

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. (‭Habakkuk‬ ‭3‬:‭17-18‬ NIV)