Through A Dark Valley

 

Psalm 23:4-5(NLT)
“Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. 5 You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies.” 

As Children of God, we don’t have to be afraid of what’s to come, nor do we have to fear the unknown. Our only requirement is to trust God as He instructs us in Psalm 23. Many of us have been through some dark valleys. We’ve dealt with someone abusing us, taking our love for granted, and speaking down to us instead of lifting us up. Still, we loved them. We told ourselves to just keep hanging in there, thinking that sooner or later, he would turn around; he would recognize the treasure he has in us. We’ve dealt with crisis after crisis, and the emotional exhaustion is more than we ever thought we could bear. It’s a dark valley, and God wants us to know that we’re not in it alone.

No matter how hurtful your circumstances may be, you are not without the love of God. It’s having faith in His love that stumps some of us. We fail to recognize His amazing grace, and to learn more about it from His Word. Because of this, our worries and fears get the best of us. The wisdom of Proverbs 12:25(ESV) says, “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.” Anxiety is difficult enough when it’s on our minds, but when it’s in our hearts, it weighs us down. It makes us think and feel like we’re not going to rise above our circumstances and conditions, but instead we think and feel we’re going to be crushed by the weight of them. We may think and feel this way, but a ‘good word’ from God can turn our whole lives around if we’ll trust it.

A Good Word from God is exactly the spiritual counseling we need in order to change the way we think. We desperately need to do this, to change the way we think. We need to renew our minds to what God says. Psalm 34:17-19(ESV) is a Good Word about God’s protection, provision, and care. This passage tells us, “17 When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” There are many promises from God in His Word, and they will comfort and encourage us to trust Him. 1Peter 5:7 tells us to cast all our anxieties on God, because He cares for us. We can fully surrender all to Him and trust that He will work all things out for our good.

As believers, we should never give the enemy a seat at the table. We shouldn’t allow him to steal the Word of God from our hearts and minds and make us think that God won’t help us because He’s forgotten about us or because we’re not good enough. This simply isn’t the truth. Romans 5:8 tells us that our Heavenly Father showed His great love for us all when He sent Christ to die as a sacrifice for our sins, and He did this while we were at our worst. God knows we’re going to make mistakes, and He doesn’t hold them against us. What He requires is for us to have faith that He can turn our pain into gain, and that through Him, we can become stronger, better, and wiser.

When darts are flying at you from every direction and you’re in the midst of a storm, take cover in Christ. In Ephesians 6:11, God tells us to put on all the armor He has provided through Jesus Christ, so we’ll be able to stand firm against the strategies of the devil. This is something we must do every day. Every morning, even before our feet hit the ground, we should pray and ask God to take over our day through His precious Holy Spirit. We should surrender it all to Him, and trust that He will lead, guide, and direct us as He promised in His Word.

When abusive relationships take us through a dark valley, sometimes we let our armor down. God is not punishing us. He wants us to know we can put on His armor at any time, as long as we do so with total trust in His power. Isaiah 40:29(NLT) declares, “He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.” The internal struggles we have are about whether we will believe in the love and power of a God that we cannot see, and whether we will see Him bigger than our problems. Don’t let doubt and insecurity win. Don’t allow them to take hold of your spirit. Make the simple but life changing choice to walk with God every moment of every day. God is close beside you and He will never leave you. Let Him control your life and trust Him to show you His marvelous light and love. Don’t listen to the enemy’s lies, listen to God! Read His Word, pray often, and have faith as He protects, comforts, and strengthens you.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

“Through A Dark Valley”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2023. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

God Heals the Brokenhearted

 

 

1Peter 1:5-7(NLT)
“5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. 6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

Managing emotional and mental anguish seemed like something that was only discussed within the confines of family interventions and therapy. Now it’s open topic of conversation on just about every platform out there. People are tired of hurting in silence, and they’re looking for help and making use of the many resources and tools that are available in our modern times. Not all these resources and tools are helpful to our relationships with God.  As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must be so very careful. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9(NKJV), “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” The world offers many doors, but our minds and hearts were created by God for fellowship with Him through Christ. So, we must be extremely discerning because we might open the wrong door, and there’s no telling what we’ll let in.

1Peter 1:5 tells us that through our FAITH, God is protecting us by His power. In faith, joy is an inside job. It’s given to us by Christ when we accept him as Lord over our lives. Our joy and rejoicing are not interrupted by the cares of this world, even during the times when life seems crazy. 1Peter 1:7 says that our faith in God is more precious than pure gold. You and I didn’t assign the value of our faith, God did. Faith in God is a powerful reality. It’s precious to Him, therefore it must be extremely precious to us, and we must treat it that way. In life, there will be troubles and tribulations, some of them are doozies, but we must have faith that God did not cause them but will deliver us from them.

God understands all the things we go through on earth. He knows that we will experience loss, heartache, and sometimes devastation. We have an enemy, and 1Peter 5:8 tells us that the devil walks around the earth like a roaring lion, looking for those he can devour. God commands us in verse 9 to stand firm against the enemy by being strong in our faith. We must be convinced of God’s love and goodness. He knew about the problem before we did, and He already has the solution. You might ask, “well why didn’t He give it to me?” He will ask, “Why didn’t you ask me for it?” God requires us to seek Him and to understand who He is.

Nothing compares to God’s healing power, and He has already made us complete in Jesus Christ, but you and I must partner with God’s Will. We can’t stand outside of His love and power, waiting for Him to move. God has already moved. He accomplished everything for His children by giving Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for our sins. Now, it’s our move, because His door is always before us. All we have to do is open it and allow Him to lead, guide, and direct us through life.

Christ commanded us in Matthew 6:33(ESV), “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Many of us haven’t taken the Lord at His Word here. We’ve made of a habit of seeking other people first. We have conditioned our minds to trust and believe people and things that work against God’s power and love for us. He doesn’t want us to live that way because it’s beneath our rights and privileges as His sons and daughters. Jesus Christ said in Revelations 3:20(NLT), “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.” This is the only door God has given us to open for salvation, healing, strength, love, and power. Everything we need is in Jesus Christ.

Psalm 147:3 (ESV) tells us, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Be careful not to seek the wrong place for your healing and wholeness. Let God guide you so that you do not open a door that looks promising but is actually an entrance to chaos and confusion. God is the One who heals our broken hearts. Through Christ, He causes a radical transformation in our lives, but we must stop looking for love in all the wrong places. God never intended us to do that. We’re to look to Him for our needs.

Our Heavenly Father doesn’t want us to remain hidden behind the walls of pain and hurt, suffering in silence. He wants us to have faith in Him. It’s ok to ask God questions, but recognize that you’re standing before the Almighty, All-loving-and-knowing, All-powerful God who has created you. He knows everything about you and knows what you need before you even ask him. Again, He knows you, but He wants you to know Him as your Healer, Protector, Provider, and Loving Father. Open the door to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Let Him heal your broken heart, and trust with all your heart that He will.■

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“God Heals the Brokenhearted”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2023. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.