There have been times when I’ve faced things that didn’t make sense. There have been times when I didn’t understand why I was going through something. I’ve had those moments when I’ve cried, “Make it stop.” I’ve been to the dark places where you question everything. There’s a place where I’ve questioned my faith, God’s existence and life itself. It’s scary to be at the end of your rope and to question letting go. I found that even in those places and moments God is there.
He is not afraid of you asking the hard questions. He is not scared to go to those dark places with you. When it seems everyone else has abandoned you and you are all alone, He is there. When life has broken apart and all is lost, He is there. He is an ever present help in your time of need. He is shelter from the storm that won’t stop beating you down. He is strength when the bottom falls out again and again. He never fails.
I’ve learned that when I’ve come to the end of my rope, when my strength gives out, His grace and strength are sufficient. I don’t think most people get to experience God this way because they’ve never been to this point. It’s a high price to pay in your life to get to that point. When you’ve lost all you have, He becomes your everything. When He becomes your everything, you will never be the same. You won’t look the same. You won’t act the same. You won’t think the same.
Once you hit that point in your life, God quits being a convenience and He becomes a necessity. I’ve lived my life both ways. I know what it’s like to have Him around and use Him when it was convenient. But I’ve also been to the point when there was nothing but me, Him and a whole lot of darkness and emptiness. I’ve been to the point where He became so real it was as if I could reach out and touch Him, but it took me getting to the point of desperation before that happened.
I know that’s how it happened for me, but I don’t think it has to be that way. God doesn’t want to wait until we get to that point to become our everything. I think He would rather hold that position in our lives before we get there. Whether we are riding high on the mountain tops, struggling with the climb up, falling down or stuck in the valleys of life, God is there and He wants to be a necessity in our life. He wants to be our strength. He wants to be more important to us than our next breath.
Yes, more important than your next breath. You rely on your next breath for life, but do you rely on God for your next breath? When God takes that place in your life, He is your everything. He is your life. He is your strength. He is where He wants to be in your life. I’ve had moments when He was there in my own life. I’ve found that keeping Him there is the hard part. Paul got to that point too. In Philippians 1:21-22 he said, “For me to live is Christ [His life in me], and to die is gain [the gain of the glory of eternity]. If, however, it is to be life in the flesh and I am to live on here, that means fruitful service for me; so I can say nothing as to my personal preference [I cannot choose] (AMP).”
When God has become your everything, your next breath doesn’t mean very much. If it doesn’t come, I’ll be ok because you’ll be standing in His presence in the next second. If He grants it, then you’re here to do His will and to be fruitful. God’s power and presence in your life can be so powerful and so real, but you have to learn to trust Him with your everything. For me, it took getting to that dark lonely place where I was hanging by a thread. You don’t have to wait until that point though. Wherever you are, reach out to Him and make Him your everything today.
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 