What a disappointment Eliphaz’ words have been to Job.
He likens his experience to a caravan of travellers in the desert who are searching for water. They have hope and joy when they see swollen streams of water in the distance, but when they reach the streams they have dried up.
Read More desperation, friends, accusation, agony
Psalm 69 is a lament. David is in a place of deep desperation. No human strength is left. Crying has left his throat aching and his sight blurred. He is going down for the last time. Yet, in the face of his enemies, he praises His faithful God. In similar moments of despair many have cried out gut-wrenching prayers for God to save them. We stand in the line of the faith-filled who have called upon the Faithful One.
Read More desperation, hope, rejectionThere are times in life when we feel pressed into a corner with no way out. That was the experience of the people of Israel with the Red Sea in front and Pharaoh’s army behind. In those moments there is only one thing to do; scream for help! In Psalm 70 David is pressed by his enemies. His life is hanging by a thread. He needs God’s help, now! David cries to God to rescue him (v 1), to turn the tables on his enemies (vv 2-3), to bless the faithful (v 4) and finally to save him in his needy state (v 5).
Read More faith, trials, desperation, prayerI’ve been in a dry place, a desert of testing for some years now and I’ve often had pause to question God and wonder why, why, why must this continue and for what purpose? Then as I reflect back over this time and recall the journey, especially as I’ve reread my prayer journals, I see that through this I’ve been brought face to face with my sin; a true recognition of how dark my heart is and how deserving of punishment I am.
Read More desperation, waiting, desert places, cry, faithIn my experience it is only when I am in a state of desperation, like a deer panting for water, that I am able to break through the ceiling of confinement and the restraint that I impose on myself which prevents me going deep with God. The paradox is that I resist the very things God uses to bring me to this point of desperation so I can go deep with him.
As survivalists of the highest order we work to insulate ourselves from all uncertainty be it relational, financial, personal security or healthy wellbeing.
Read More honesty, control, desperation, prayer, thirstHow do leaders respond when God sometimes seems silent and achingly far away at a time when our backs are against the wall?
The scene in this passage opens late in the siege of Samaria. Unimaginably desperate, people are willing to pay a huge price for things they never dreamed were edible: a donkey’s head or pigeon droppings. They are even willing to eat their own children!
Read More desperation, faith, humility, dependence
How should we pray when hope is spent, there’s nowhere to turn, and nothing more we can do?
Asaph begins his entreaty in the dust of despair. A savage enemy has wreaked carnage. In the blood spattered, ember smoking aftermath of destruction, there’s nothing but desolation.
Read More desperation, prayer, hope