Last week, using God’s powerful instructions to Joshua as he faced unknown perils, I outlined a plan for overcoming discouragement. This week, reaching back over 2500 years, I will use Old Testament Scriptures which presciently illustrate the sharp distinction and certain outcomes between two very different approaches to solving the seemingly overwhelming problems facing us as a nation. I will also use my personal testimony to offer hope to caregivers who find themselves facing insurmountable difficulties:
Remove God from All Areas of Public Life and Experience Freedom.
Why the big noise, nations? Why the mean plots, peoples? Earth-leaders push for position, demagogues and delegates meet for summit talks,
The God-deniers, the Messiah-defiers: “Let’s get free of God! Cast loose from Messiah!”
Heaven-throned God breaks out laughing. At first he’s amused at their presumption;
Then he gets good and angry. Furiously, he shuts them up: “Don’t you know there’s a King in Zion? A coronation banquet is spread for him on the holy summit.”
Let me tell you what God said next. He said, “You’re my son, and today is your birthday.
What do you want? Name it: Nations as a present? Continents as a prize?
You can command them all to dance for you, or throw them out with tomorrow’s trash.”
So, rebel-kings, use your heads; upstart-judges, learn your lesson:
Worship God in adoring embrace, celebrate in trembling awe. Kiss Messiah!
Your very lives are in danger, you know; His anger is about to explode,
but if you make a run for God—you won’t regret it (Psalm 2:1-12 MSG)!
Trust God in All Areas of Life and Enjoy His Bountiful Blessings.
Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over.
But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline; don’t sulk under his loving correction.
It’s the child he loves that God corrects; a father’s delight is behind all this (Proverbs 3:5-12 MSG).
Walking Victoriously through the “Long Goodbye”
The early years of our journey into the unknown were very difficult for Linda and me. She struggled to understand why she was slowly losing her memory, and I struggled to provide answers that would comfort her. Mercifully, the advancement of Alzheimer’s lessened her need to understand, and she gradually made peace with this horrible disease which will ultimately take her life; however, I was left with a different set of challenges: making tough decisions without her input, seeing that her growing list of needs were met, and believing that God would provide the resources to make it all happen!
As the weeks and months turned into years, guarding against discouragement became a top priority for me. Thankfully, after Linda became a resident at Legacy Village, she adjusted well and I briefly enjoyed a lull in the storm. Unfortunately, beginning with the pandemic and continuing to the present, a different story arises: I, along with those who believe in the Lordship of Jesus and the truthfulness of Scripture, find it incomprehensible that in this time of calamity there is a concerted effort to remove God from all areas of public life.
Maintaining that due to my great spiritual maturity, I have handled it well would make for good reading; it would also be untruthful! In reality, my greatest peace comes when I, along with the psalmist, acknowledge encroaching discouragement and resolve by faith to press forward into the heart of God:
Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God (Psalm 43:5 NLT)!
The lyrics of “Through It All” summarize my feelings:
I’ve had many tears and sorrows, I’ve had questions for tomorrow, there’s been times I didn’t know right from wrong, but in every situation, God gave me blessed consolation, that my trials come only to make me strong.
I’ve been to lots of places, I’ve seen a lot of faces, there’s been times I felt so all alone. But in my lonely hours, yes, those precious lonely hours, Jesus let me know that I am His own.
I thank God for the mountains, and I thank Him for the valleys, I thank Him for the storms He’s brought me through. For if I’d never had a problem, I wouldn’t know God could solve them, I’d never know what faith in God could do.
Ron Harvard Ministries 